Tag: hate speech

Canada Introduces Horrifying Retroactive Hate Speech Law

Canada is veering dangerously close to the type of complete control over people’s thoughts and speech seen in places like North Korea with a new bill that aims to censor people on the pretense of protecting others from “hate speech” – and that’s not even the most daunting part of it. What’s even more horrifying is the fact that it is retroactive, which means that the things that people have said in the past can now be weaponized against them.

The bill, known as the Online Harms Bill C-63, aims to combat online abuse, but it hides its most concerning components behind more reasonable measures, such as requiring social media platforms to take down posts that sexualize children within 24 hours.

It contains seven categories of content deemed harmful that providers must remove from their websites, including bullying children and encouraging people to harm themselves. It will also ban deep fakes. However, it is the hate speech aspects of it that are causing the most concern.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that his party is opposed to Prime Minister “Justin Trudeau’s woke authoritarian agenda” that will likely be used for censoring political speech.

He said: “What does Justin Trudeau mean when he says the words ‘hate speech’? He means the speech he hates. You can assume he will ban all of that.”

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Not in Our Name

Free speech is not a divisible concept. Either everyone is free to say what they want, no matter how noxious others find it, in order to create and sustain the free market of ideas—or else speech isn’t free.

Institutions that curtail speech—that make people’s social media postings grounds for expulsion, that ban or suppress speakers they disagree with, that penalize dissenting opinions in classrooms and workplaces with bad grades and HR reports—should not be allowed to then turn around and invoke the principles of free speech to defend problematic speech with which they happen to agree, let alone disruptive or illegal behavior.

And yet, recent years have seen the emergence of two different speech regimes, one for alleged oppressors and one for the allegedly oppressed. Huge swaths of often innocent speech by the former is deemed out of bounds, even criminal, whereas any speech coming out of the mouth of someone with a claim to victim status—including speech that actively incites violence—is considered sacrosanct.

As a result, there is now a great deal of confusion about freedom of speech, which is a very basic—and very central—principle of American history and society. For those interested in being de-confused, which we humbly submit should be all thinking American citizens, herewith: a primer.

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Hate Crime Reports in Scotland Set to Outnumber All Other Crimes Combined

Hate crime reports in Scotland are on course to outnumber the total of all other offences combined as a result of the disastrous new law that has been weaponized by political activists.

Under the new legislation, anyone deemed to have been verbally ‘abusive’, in person or online, to a transgender person, including “insulting” them could be hit with a prison sentence of up to seven years.

After conservatives made a mockery of the legislation and deranged left-wing activists exploited it to target their political adversaries, officers have been deluged with vexatious reports, with one top official complaining “we cannot cope.”

The sheer number of bad faith complaints coming in is ludicrous.

“Around 8,000 hate crime reports have been made in the first week of the new Scottish legislation coming into force, which, if replicated through the year, would surpass the entire annual total of 416,000 crimes reported to police, according to an analysis of official data by The Telegraph.”

“This would mean that hate crime reports would overtake overall crime within 36 weeks, or at least by the autumn, and dwarf the annual 58,000 reported assaults, the most common offence in Scotland, by a factor of 10.”

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“We Cannot Cope”: Police Scotland Deluged With Politicized Hate Crime Reports

Entirely as predicted, Police Scotland has been deluged with vexatious and politically-driven ‘hate crime’ reports, with one top official complaining “we cannot cope.”

Didn’t see this one coming.

Under the new legislation, anyone deemed to have been verbally ‘abusive’, in person or online, to a transgender person, including “insulting” them could be hit with a prison sentence of up to seven years.

That instantly led to a flood of bad faith reports, including from conservatives making a mockery of the system and from deranged left-wing activists trying to punish their ideological adversaries.

David Threadgold, Chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said that the new legislation was being exploited to pursue personal and political vendettas.

“Police Scotland have gone public and said that on every occasion, reports of hate crime will be investigated,” Mr. Threadgold told the BBC. “That creates a situation where we simply cannot cope at the moment.”

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Combating “Hate”: The Trojan Horse For Precrime

Philip K. Dick’s 1956 novella The Minority Report created “precrime,” the clairvoyant foreknowledge of criminal activity as forecast by mutant “precogs.” The book was a dystopian nightmare, but a 2015 Fox television series transforms the story into one in which a precog works with a cop and shows that data is actually effective at predicting future crime.

Canada is trying to enact a precrime law along the lines of the 2015 show, but it is being panned about as much as the television series. Ottawa’s online harms bill includes a provision to impose house arrest on someone who is feared to commit a hate crime in the future. From The Globe and Mail:

The person could be made to wear an electronic tag, if the attorney-general requests it, or ordered by a judge to remain at home, the bill says. Mr. Virani, who is Attorney-General as well as Justice Minister, said it is important that any peace bond be “calibrated carefully,” saying it would have to meet a high threshold to apply.

But he said the new power, which would require the attorney-general’s approval as well as a judge’s, could prove “very, very important” to restrain the behaviour of someone with a track record of hateful behaviour who may be targeting certain people or groups…

People found guilty of posting hate speech could have to pay victims up to $20,000 in compensation. But experts including internet law professor Michael Geist have said even a threat of a civil complaint – with a lower burden of proof than a court of law – and a fine could have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

While this is a dangerous step in Canada, I also wonder if this is where burgeoning “anti-hate” programs across the US are headed. The Canadian bill would also allow “people to file complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission over what they perceive as hate speech online – including, for example, off-colour jokes by comedians.”

There are now programs in multiple US states to do just that –  encourage people to snitch on anyone doing anything perceived as “hateful.”

The 2021 federal COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act began to dole out money to states to help them respond to hate incidents. Oregon now has its Bias Response Hotline to track “bias incidents.”

In December of 2022, New York launched its Hate and Bias Prevention Unit. Maryland, too, has its system – its hate incidents examples include “offensive jokes” and “malicious complaints of smell or noise.”

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Police Scotland Paying Officers Overtime To Deal With Slew Of ‘Hate Crime’ Reports

Following the passage of what is probably the most stupid law in history, Police Scotland are having to pay officers in their control room “hundreds of thousands” in overtime to deal with a deluge of ‘hate crime’ reports.

The Telegraph reports that David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, commented that the excess costs are already piling up as police try to deal with the influx of more than 6,000 complaints of “stirring up hatred”.

“Although there are lots of complaints coming in, a tiny percentage of that are turning into actual investigations. It will all be done within the control room, the control room will be paying extra overtime and using officers from the control room area to do it,” Kennedy stated.

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Police Scotland Deluged With Nearly 4,000 Complaints As New Hate Crime Law is Weaponized

As predicted, Police Scotland was deluged with nearly 4,000 complaints in the first day alone after the passage of an absurd new hate crime law, proving the legislation is being weaponized by activists.

Under the new legislation, anyone deemed to have been verbally ‘abusive’, in person or online, to a transgender person, including “insulting” them could be hit with a prison sentence of up to seven years.

Transgender activists have been busy making lists of people they are waiting on to make such comments, including Harry Potter author JK Rowling herself.

Although it was announced yesterday by police that Rowling wouldn’t be investigated, the mere fact that she has been reported could create a ‘hate incident’ file on her that will remain in perpetuity.

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Hate crime law: Glasgow LGBT+ sex shop designated official reporting centre for controversial new laws

Police Scotland has been urged to drop an LGBT+ sex shop as an official reporting centre for Scotland’s new hate crime legislation after the outlet’s designation was described as “ill-thought” out.

The controversial Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which was passed back in March 2021, will come into force on April 1.

This legislation makes it illegal to stir up hatred against protected characteristics, such as age, disability, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

To help members of the public report incidents of hate crime, Police Scotland has designated numerous sites as ‘third party reporting centres’, with most being based in community buildings such as citizens’ advice bureaux, housing associations, libraries and council buildings.

However, Police Scotland is coming under fire for listing an LGBT+ sex shop called Luke and Jack in Glasgow’s Merchant City as one of these sites.

Other venues listed as third party reporting centres include a mushroom farm in North Berwick, a demolished office block in West Dunbartonshire, and a salmon and trout wholesalers in Duns.

Scottish Conservative MSP Annie Wells said: “Serious questions must be asked as to who thought a sex shop was an appropriate setting to report a hate crime. The SNP’s act is flawed enough without asking people to relay their experiences in this sort of outlet in the heart of the city centre.

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Poland Prepares New Hate-Speech Law: 3 Years In Prison For Insulting LGBT People

Poland, once a bastion of conservatism, is radically shifting gears under the new left-liberal government with a new “hate speech” law that could see offenders imprisoned for up to three years for “offensive” content against LGBT people.

The left had already been pushing for stricter speech controls before the coalition government formed, and since it won power, the left is now making good on its promises. On Wednesday, the Polish Ministry of Justice published a draft amendment to the penal code regarding hate speech on the website of the Government Legislation Center.

The new draft law is looking to expand classifications regarding hate speech to include age, disability, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, according to Polish news outlet DoRzeczy.

In a strong stand against government plans to penalize what it calls “hate speech,” Poland’s Confederation party asserts the need for free and unrestricted public discourse

“The introduction of the proposed solutions will ensure enhanced and full criminal law protection against the use of violence or unlawful threats, incitement to hatred, insults and violations of bodily integrity due to the disability, age, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity of the injured party,” reads the draft.

The draft also threatens up to five years in prison for “threats.”

However, even for “insults,” which are loosely defined, penalties could be extremely harsh under the new draft law.

Provisions regarding gender, sexual orientation and gender identity have been added to article 256, which covers incitement to hated and in article 257 regarding insults.

Now, under these new rules, “insults” against sexual orientation or gender identity will be punishable by up to three years in prison.

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Police Scotland to Stop Investigating Crimes While Enforcing New Anti-Free Speech Law

As it prepares to investigate every report it receives under the new Hate Crime Act, Police Scotland admits that a separate plan to stop investigating crimes like theft and criminal damage will help criminals.

A Police Scotland pilot in Aberdeen which was deemed a “success” means “more than 24,000 offences a year will no longer be allocated to a front-line officer.”

The body refused to tell the Telegraph which offences would not be investigated, asserting that it would provide criminals with a “tactical advantage”.

“Police Scotland refused to release the data, claiming that admitting which crimes the policy could apply to would risk handing “those with criminal intent” the opportunity to “plan and orchestrate their criminal activities with the aim to avoid detection,” reports the newspaper.

However, Chief Constable Jo Farrell told a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority that some forms of theft and criminal damage would not be investigated.

The new policy is designed to free up time for officers to focus on other crimes.

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