LogFAQs > #963109747

The_Viscount posted...

Technically many of them never started from a position of freedom. They went from a monarchy under which speech was punishable by sentences up to and including death to other forms of government where speech was punishable by sentences coming short of death.

So... they've gotten better? Interesting development, given what a dangerous precedent controlling speech in any capacity is supposed to be, but I'll take it.

The_Viscount posted...

There are many countries whose citizens never actually knew freedom so they think various forms oppression are natural or, in extreme cases, necessary.

Various forms of oppression are necessary. Anarchy doesn't work, and laws are inherently oppressive to anyone that wishes to break them. There are people in the world who consider "don't chop your daughter's clitoris off" to be oppressive. As a concept, that's not inherently a bad thing. if you're going to object to how oppressive something is, do so on a case by case basis, not with broad, pathos-ridden cries against "oppression" as a concept.

The_Viscount posted...

However, in many cases, most of the "slides" are actually very recent.

Not really. Most hate speech laws have had to be updated to cover online activity, for obvious reasons, but most are at least a few decades old, if not older. The issue's just getting more publicity because speech is more public in general now.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/racists-attacks-court-hate-crimes-1.5604912

In practice, it's still not particularly easy to get a hate crime conviction in Canada even if somebody has been assaulted or killed, let alone off of mere hate speech. People love to cry about slippery slopes and oppression and being thrown in jail for wrongthink, but the vast, vast majority of truly indefensible speech (unless you want to try defending people who accost passers-by with racial slurs to any level beyond "they have a right to do it") goes unpunished, which is a far cry from punishing defensible speech.

Once again, I think it's okay and you're just being melodramatic. Nothing's dystopian just because the occasional racist jackass might face consequences for their actions.