Wednesday, July 25, 2007

"Hate Crimes" and Blogging

Maybe it's a straw in the wind blowing from Canada.

A website featuring comments by, for and about "principled conservatism" is being investigated by the Canadian government, and could be fined or ordered shut down for some postings about Islam and homosexuality.

Connie Wilkins, who with Mark Fournier runs Canada's
Free Dominion site and posts articles, comments and blogs on a wide range of issues, said she just was notified by the nation's Human Rights Commission about the investigation.

The scenario bears a close resemblance to the situation feared by opponents in the United States should a pending "hate crimes" legislation be approved by Congress and signed into law by the president. It would essentially provide an enhanced penalty for a range of crimes if someone perceives they are being targeted for being part of a recognized population segment, such as the homosexual community.

While the concept of "hate crimes" is asinine, and while there must be a predicate-crime to which one attaches the "hate" enhancement, (and expressing opinion is not yet a "crime,") it doesn't take much imagination to envision a mission-creep-infected "agency" of the Gummint which views free expression as a punishable offense.

1 comment:

Billiam said...

Coming to you soon, from a gummint near you. VERY NEAR!Yes, it'll happen here. They'll do it in the name of fairness, and the newest right pushed by many. The "right?" to not be offended. I don't know precisely when this became a right. Maybe it was a penumbra that emanated when no one was looking...