For that matter, how close are we already to creating thought crimes? Hate can sometimes be considered an aggravating factor in assault: if the attack is thought to be motivated by homophobia, or racism, then the criminal act is deemed worthy of a harsher punishment. And the expression of hatred alone is a crime if it is directed against an ethnic or a religious group. Of course I understand that it is naïve to say that words do not have a power of their own, or that they can be clearly differentiated from actions in their effect on the world. I am a member of the ethnic group whose persecution and mass murder in the last century was a direct consequence of a campaign of vicious hate speech. But that does not alter the fact that words (and thoughts) must be regarded differently in law from acts. It is the recognition of that difference that distinguishes a free nation from a totalitarian one.