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Today's Indecency Is Tomorrow's Hate-speech
by Jim Babka
April 8, 2004Can I start off this column by engaging in some so-called hate speech? "Republicans are stupid."
I'm not making this up – Al Franken and his pals at the new liberal radio network Air America told me so.
That doesn't mean I'm a Democrat – they're evil.
I can still get away with saying that, for now. But like all good things, that too will come to an end, and we'll have the stupid party to blame.
Dead on Arrival
The Supreme Court finished off the First Amendment in December with their ruling in the McConnell v. FEC case (ruling on McCain- Feingold campaign finance reform). That amendment was already barely breathing.
Justice Thomas in his dissenting opinion predicted that even freedom of the press was in trouble. He indicated that, thanks to the McConnell ruling, the rights of the institutional press were now mere privileges conferred by legislative grace. Someday, even newspapers will have to worry.
Of course, no one believed him. Such dramatic claims are never taken seriously.
Janet Jackson, Howard Stern, and the GOP
Janet Jackson exposed her nipple on national television and the GOP faithful said, "Someone ought to do something." That someone is always the government.
Howard Stern does a profane bit on his show and the GOP faithful say, "There ought to be a law."
It should come as no surprise that George W. Bush's administration and his party in Congress are over-enthusiastic to demonstrate that they're for morality, decency, and good manners.
And the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is all-too-eager to oblige. It's gotten so bad that one FCC commissioner is seeking to make a name for himself by cracking down on Soap Operas.
Maybe you didn't know Big Brother watches Soap Operas. Rumor has it he enjoys bon-bons too.
But I'm not going to print his name, nor the name of his boss who grandstanded after Janet Jackson's costume accident. I don't want to give them the satisfaction.
Hate Crimes and Other Democratic Past-times
George W. Bush cares about one thing – getting elected. But he won't be the President forever. We still have the evil party. They believe they can create Utopia.
Some people do bad things. They assault, rape, and even murder people. We call them criminals because they have victims.
Sometimes people say things we don't like – they're insensitive. And Democrats want to demonstrate how much they care. That means they'll do what every good Utopian does – pass a law. They'll crack down on Hate Crimes.
Hate Crimes are exactly what they sound like – mind crimes. If you kill someone, you should be punished, but if you did it because someone was in a particular minority class, you should be severely punished. Maybe after your declared dead due to lethal injection, we'll burn your bones. That'll show you.
Thus being ignorant becomes a crime. I drive the same roads you do full of idiot drivers, so I'm tempted to like this idea!
But in the case of Hate Crimes ignorance is a crime even if there isn't a genuine victim. Moral paragons – aka politicians – get to determine what forms of ignorance are prohibited.
In France, Canada, and other parts of Europe, being publicly insensitive can be a crime.
We might expect that from France, but the Great White North?
Saskatchewan's Human Rights Commission ordered both the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix newspaper and Hugh Owens of Regina to pay $1,500 fines after three gay activists filed a complaint against a June, 1997 ad quoting scripture appeared in the Star-Phoenix. The ruling of the commission also stated that Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, along with I Corinthians 6:9-10 can be considered hate speech. The ruling also prohibited Mr. Owens from publishing bumper-stickers inspired by the ad.
Similar things have occurred in Ontario, as well as in Sweden and South Africa. But what has that got to do with us?
For one thing, Senator Ted Kennedy has already tried to pass a Hate Crime bill in the United States.
If you can't compete, shut your opponents
downYou Republicans won't appreciate it when the evil party is in power, because they'll use their new FCC powers to rule that speech on behalf of the stupid party, just like the contents of Mr. Owens newspaper ad, are an affront to the dignity of Democrats on the basis of political orientation.
For now, the evil party is trying their little radio experiment. Here's a prediction: Air America will be out of business by year's end. And since they'll fail in the marketplace, Democrats will retreat back to what they do best – passing new laws, especially a Hate Crime bill for the airwaves.
That's how the power you give George W. Bush and his friends today to ban indecency from the airwaves, is a power that tomorrow you're giving John Kerry, or Hillary Clinton, or some other "Ted Kennedy wanna-be" to ban something you never intended to ban.
So if you think George W. Bush's priority one should be to get re-elected and the risk created by these new indecency statutes is a small price to pay, think again.
For now, consider the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." There's a word for falling for the same thing over and over – "stupid."
Now you've been warned.
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