Love-hate

Hate speech is a hateful concept, along with its evil cousin, the hate crime. Nowadays, to call something "hate speech" is a common short-hand for inviting its suppression by the government. And people feel good and virtuous about this! The notion that the state should punish or prescribe speech because it hurts a group's feelings or makes them look bad...Terrible idea. Terrible. It is the beginning of the end of free speech.

The liberals who fought to erase blasphemy laws now write laws that have the same effect, criminalizing speech which insults something you find sacred because of your faith, liberalism.
You have to be deaf and blind not to notice that hate speech law is only invoked in favor of certain specified groups, official victim groups beloved of liberals. Only conservatives and righties can speak hatefully.

But, mirabili dictu, even a Salon liberal lawyer like Glenn Greenwald finds the use of law to punish such speech a very bad idea indeed, noxious and oppressive and "stomach-churning."

Mr. Greenwald finds people like the "pernicious" Ezra Levant and the "odious" Mark Steyn "hateful purveyors of a bitter, destructive, authoritarian ideology." But he wants to take them on in an extra-legal forum. Yes, dude. Yes. Good for you. Argue! Call each other names!

(Under hate speech laws, wouldn't Messrs. Levant ande Steyn be able to plead against Mr. Greenwald for making them feel bad?)

Now here's a bi-partisan project I could get on board with!

And they would be more than happy to take the loathsome and rank Mr. Greenwald on.

That's that way we do it in a "liberal" democracy.

Long live Psalm 139.22

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