re: #96 SpaceJesus

i would disagree, with germany as a case in point. i would attribute germany’s mainstream pacifism to the fact that extreme right wing rhetoric is not allowed there.

Hmm… Being ashamed of what happened under Hitler’s watch, being split in half during the cold war, being prohibited from having their own military for quite awhile…

Nope. It’s gotta be the laws. Because everyone knows that germans are only good for doing what they are told. /sarc

Seriously, hate-speech laws are based on a naive principle. You can’t make a crazy idea (or any idea, for that matter) go away by making a martyr of a crazy spokesperson.

This is ancient roman empire naive. For awhile, they scratched their heads in confusion, because they were certain that they successfully nipped some retarded little cult called “christianity” in the bud.

For a modern example, look at Geert Wilders. I mean, look where he is now. The law hasn’t stopped him. Sick, twisted haters like him always find a way. Just ask 4chan.
re: #107 SpaceJesus

the crazies can’t be fought with ideas because they are so warped,

This is a strawman! Everyone knows you can’t out-smart crazy. That was never the point. The point is to expose crazy as crazy, before someone else drinks the kool-aid.

Besides, if a society is so far-gone that only speech laws keep it from going the way of the Nazis, then its a safe bet that there are deeper festering social problems that can be ignited by any number of other things.

In other words, if a nation truly needs hate speech laws, its already too late.

I dare speculate (based on my zero years in psychology training) that this is all beside the point for you, SpaceJesus. Hate speech laws are for feeling good, not doing good. Its very satisfying to think we can lock-up future Hitlers and be done with them. We all like to think that the nuts can be made shut up before our ears bleed from the stupidity.

But the real world is never that simple.