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In reply to the discussion: At U.N., free speech divides West and Muslim nations [View all]DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)The issue of who gets to decide what is hate speech becomes an issue of power, to make one group the first class citizens, and one the second. The Danish cartoon was done in one of these countries with more regulated speech, and the ruins are still smoking. Meanwhile,the response done by these countries with the regulated speech was to ban Muslims headscarves, which many Muslims found as offenseive as what the americans did, as it showed that the schools were makign people who used them second class citizens.
Black and White are not useful here. The right of free speech can be ugly, but the cure is worse, especially as you know that it will be abused. Muslims rioted against a cartoon, and in the name of tolerance, Muslim women has to lose their headscarves, which meant they could not pratcise their religion. A nice hell, made of good intentions.