Montegriffo wrote: ↑Sat Feb 22, 2020 8:54 am
Driving over the speed limit does not make every speeder a killer. No one is suggesting that inciting hatred makes everyone commit a hate crime. That is a ridiculous standard to use to argue against a law.
It only needs to be shown that it has the potential to cause harm.
Inciting hatred may only be a small factor in radicalising a person but it is still a factor. It is disingenuous to say that no one was ever incited to carry out an illegal act of hatred (violence, harassment, threatening behaviour etc) by another person's words.
But surely both the circumstances under which it
may cause harm, whether the speech is what causes the harm, and just as importantly, the
quantity of cases has to figure into the justification of making these laws? If only 0.0001% of the population can be shown to having resorted to violence because they saw something racist on 4chan, then should the remaining 99.9% of the population be restricted in their speech and what they can be allowed to read because a super-minority has violent tendencies? If the
goal is to reduce crime by those people, is limiting their ability to express themselves in public the best way to keep them away from radicalisation and from committing violence, you think?
Racial hatred is defined in the legislation as hatred against a group of people defined by reference to colour, race, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origins.
The 1986 Act makes it an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour (?) with intent to stir up racial hatred in the street or in a public speech. It is also an offence to display, publish or distribute written material that is threatening, abusive or insulting with intent to stir up racial hatred. In both cases, it is an offence even if there was no intent to incite hatred, but where hatred is likely to be stirred up regardless.
It is therefore an offence to use threatening words or behaviour, or to display, publish or distribute any threatening written material with the intent to stir up hatred on grounds of sexual orientation. It is also an offence to broadcast such material with intent to stir up such hatred.
"You are guilty of
inciting hate, even if that wasn't your intent, because we imagine - but are under no obligation to actually
prove - that your words or writings have incited someone to a hatred, or degree of hatred, that they didn't hold before."
Fame is not flattery. Respect is not agreement.