But not all hate speech

Vincent J. Curtis

29 Feb 24

RE: Hate crime changes “troubling” CP story by Stephanie Taylor. The Hamilton Spectator 29 Feb 24.

The Federal government introduced legislation to impose draconian penalties for hate speech, including up to life imprisonment, for those advocating genocide.  How about those who chant “from the river to the sea”?  This chant advocates the destruction of the State of Israel, and necessarily of the genocide of the Jewish people living in it.  Will these people be subject to prosecution? Will any of their leaders be exposed to potentially life imprisonment?

I doubt it.

And what about those who claim that others are guilty of “greenwashing”?  This rather nebulous term is another form of hate-speech. It’s an accusation that the “greenwasher” is guilty of deception, and is actually working for the destruction of the world, or perhaps just of the human race, by continuing the production, or use of, fossil fuels.  Isn’t that a hateful thing to say, even if you believe it?

Those who claim that the world can only be saved by reducing the global population from 8 billion to 2 billion are advocating for the extinction of three quarters of the human race.  Surely, this too is the advocacy of genocide. Will they too be punished? I doubt it.

As Mark Steyn has observed many times concerning well-intentioned restrictions on free speech: that the cure is always worse than the disease.

-30-