"Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech..." -- US Constitution, First Amendment (1791) "Freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they express, or the words they speak or write." -- Hugo Black, US Supreme Court Justice, "One Man's Stand for Freedom" (1963) "The truth hurts." -- Proverb Free speech is a funny kind of concept. Used to be, free speech was anything that didn't physically hurt others. Don't yell "Fire!" in a packed theatre, for example, unless there really is a fire, of course. Truth always won out then. Then laws developed about libel and slander, where words could hurt one's ability to make a living or move freely in the world. Again, truth always won out - if you called someone a whore and could prove they had sex indiscriminately, you went free. Now we see speech laws morphing into bans on "hate speech." Problem is, the further into the rhetorical woods we go, the murkier the visibility becomes. And truth no longer provides a defense. Today we focus on one's intent with the current breed of American hate crime laws. For example, blacks who say "nigger" are just funnin' around with their homies. Whites who say "nigger" are racist bigot crackers and put in jail. I have a client out of jail right now, pending his appeal for that very "crime." See my essay, "Attorney for the Damned <http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/damned.htm> " for an overview of his "crime" (http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/damned.htm). What's more, today's hate crime laws protect only certain groups of people: blacks, jews, homosexuals, women, certain minorities - after all, it is still ok to tell the most reprehensible jokes about lawyers (I'm one), rednecks (I'm one) and whites (I'm one), but when was the last time you heard a Rastus and Liza joke? Like today's hate crime laws, tomorrow's hate speech laws also will protect only certain groups of people, jews in particular. Tomorrow already is here in Canada, Germany, England, Italy and so many other Western countries. It almost is here in America. It soon will be, if the ADL has its way. And, just as the truth of one's comments no longer matters, mere intent no longer is the core issue. Hate speech laws focus upon the effect one's comments have, regardless of one's intent. Hate speech is hurt speech. The truth hurts, in other words. And, like a sword, it can hurt in both directions. Just ask Nusrat Hussein, a Canadian resident who publishes a small newspaper for his local Muslim community. You see, Mr. Hussain had the temerity to reprint my essay, "It Wasn't Arabs <http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/arabs.htm> " (http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/arabs.htm) in his paper, "The Miracle," which has a circulation of about 2,500 in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. Now they want to put Mr. Hussain in prison just for printing my little diatribe: Muslim newspaper accused of spreading hate <http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2004/01/07/publish040107> (http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2004/01/07/publish040107). This has become a huge affair in Canada, with radio, TV and the press converging on poor Mr. Hussain. Imagine what they would like to do to me. "It Wasn't Arabs" has developed a life of its own, it seems. It began as a personal rant, then developed into a laundry list of complaints which can be laid at the doorsteps of jews around the world. Here is an excerpt: It wasn't Arabs who sued to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance - it was jews. It wasn't Arabs who sued to remove the Ten Commandments from that Alabama courthouse, had Judge Moore removed from the bench and now seek to disbar him - it is jews. It isn't Arabs who sue to remove nativity scenes from public venues - it is jews. It isn't Arabs who erect menorahs in public venues in place of crosses - it is jews. It wasn't Arabs who sued to remove group prayer from public schools - it was jews. It wasn't Arabs suing to remove decorative lights from schools at Christmas - it was jews. It isn't Arabs who refuse to allow children to say grace over their school lunches - it is jews. Nearly one hundred points like these, delivered just like these. And it has gone around the world again and again. Glad to see I am making a difference in the fight against tyranny and injustice. Never mind that everything in it has been proven true, time and again. What matters is that some jewish feelings got hurt. The truth hurts. But it shouldn't hurt the truth teller. Unless the truth being told is about jews, goes the new/old conventional wisdom, then the rules are different, just as we see around the world, day after day. Recently, in "Tell a Joke, Go to Jail <http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/rant.htm> " (http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/rant.htm), I wrote about a law which had been passed by Hungary's democratically-elected Parliament which stipulated a two-year prison term for "someone who publicly insults a Jew." (http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/03/12/Hungary_FreeSpeech.html) What's more, if the insult amounted to an expression of "hatred," the sentence went up to three years! Fortunately, at the last moment, Hungary's President declined to sign the bill. It will be back, though, and it will be passed eventually. Think about it for a moment: two years in prison for publicly insulting a jew in Hungary! Regardless of intent. They just have to have their little jew feelings hurt. Add a year if you mean it! Now my essay, "It Wasn't Arabs," has some Canadian jews in high places hyperventilating. "Free speech does not mean hate speech, and I think this article clearly is hate speech," said Nisson Goldman of the CJC. That is CJC, as in the Canadian Jewish Congress. They are the guys that are demanding Mr. Hussain be prosecuted. It is ironic that "It Wasn't Arabs" actually was inspired by the CJC itself! It began with an email exchange I had with CJC's Executive Director, Bernie Farber, back in October, wherein I played off his relegating clearly provable truths to the category of rumors. The piece knocked around in my mind for a month or so before I actually wrote it. Here's the reply I sent to Mr. Farber which actually served as the genesis for "It Wasn't Arabs": "Ah, it's always great to hear from you, Bernie! "You know, I've given this considerable thought and decided that you are absolutely correct. In fact, henceforth, I intend to adopt your way of thinking: "I'm not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about jews being gassed during WWII. "I'm not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about jews being burned in ovens during WWII. "I'm not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about 6 million jews dying during WWII, especially since the total European jewish population actually increased. "I'm not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about jews being just like everybody else, just with a different religion. "I'm not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about jews being members of a religion or culture, rather than a distinct race. "I'm not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about jews being friends of Christians. "I'm not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about jews not having disproportionate sway in America's government. "Finally, I'm certainly not going to believe any of the stupid rumors I hear about Israel being America's best friend. "BTW, Bernie, how is it that "your type" gets away with your brand of hate speech, directed at my "type" from up there in the land of tolerance? Especially, considering you are the high muckety muck of the "Canadian Jewish Congress?" There are none so intolerant as those who preach tolerance..." Showing a rare measure of restraint, my buddy Bernie had no further response for me. We have seen how free speech in the world has been whittled away, bit by bit, going from prohibiting harm to punishing mere intent - and intent regarding only certain people. We see the next iteration in America being hate speech bans, the touchstone for which is the effect one's speech has on another's feelings. That's for tomorrow. What about the day after that? Remember who is pushing all this censorship. Jews like Bernie Farber, of the CJC, now on the trail of poor Mr. Hussain, whose crime was printing an essay that told the truth. Because jewish feelings were hurt. Let's not forget who took over Russia early last century. American jews went to Russia and overthrew the Tsar, using American jewish banker money. One of the first things they did was to outlaw antisemitism, the very thing that is being attempted in America today. Before they were done, over 20 million white Russian Christians were slaughtered (over 40 million, if you believe Alexander Solzhenitsyn) by the Russian communist jews, people who started out by seeking to stop expressions of antisemitism, because jewish feelings were getting hurt. US President Harry Truman, who presided over the end of WWII and its aftermath: "The Jews, I find, are very, very selfish. They care not how many Estonians, Latvians, Finns, Poles, Yugoslavs or Greeks get murdered or mistreated as D[isplaced] P[ersons] as long as the Jews get special treatment. Yet when they have power, physical, financial or political neither Hitler nor Stalin has anything on them for cruelty or mistreatment to the under dog." (Harry Truman's personal diary, 1947.) Lest you think Russia's to be an isolated experience, consider the following from jewish scripture: "Extermination of the Christians is a necessary sacrifice." (Zohar, Shemoth). Hate speech laws in action, ladies and gentlemen. They are coming to America next. Already, the imprisonments have begun, even in America, albeit by twisting and subverting other laws. Some people have died, too, but their deaths falsely are attributed to other causes. Truly, hate speech simply means anything that jews hate to hear. That's why we have to have jews to identify it for us. This is just the beginning. The beginning of what could well become wholesale slaughter. How many will lose all that they have? How many will be sent to the new American gulags? How many will be murdered and "disappeared" in America before we rise up and throw off this tyranny, just as Russia's most recent generation finally is doing? How many, before we say no to the new laws being pressed upon us? How many? New America. An idea whose time has come.