CYBERSPACE STAYS FREE, ADL MOURNS
By Harmony Grant
While liberal Jewish activists have worked successfully to punish
and silence politically incorrect speech in much of Europe, America
maintains a fragile freedom. The Anti-Defamation League, architect
of Orwellian “anti-hate” laws, is frustrated about it.
This was apparent in the Sept. 12 speech given by Christopher Wolf,
chair of both the ADL Internet Task Force and the International Network
Against Cyber Hate. He spoke at the 3rd International Symposium on
Hate on the Internet sponsored by B'nai Brith, ADL’s parent
organization.
In his speech, Wolf sourly admitted the difficulty in corralling
thought criminals on the web, especially since America provides a “legal
haven” for that hatred.
The US is a haven because we don’t yet have a federal hate
laws bill, despite ADL’s aggressive attempts to pass one. A
federal hate bill would severely limit free speech, and triple the
penalties for crimes motivated by “bias” or “hate” against
certain protected groups, like homosexuals. It would establish a
vast anti-hate bureaucracy similar to the one in Canada, where Christian
pastors have been punished merely for quoting from “hate literature”—the
Bible!
Most countries of Europe (and 46 states in the union) have ADL-designed
hate laws already. France, Germany, and Austria are examples of the
most stringent; in these countries, you can be prosecuted just for
questioning the six-million figure of the Jewish holocaust.
ADL is pleased with its success in banning free speech in these
nations of Europe.
But America remains a loose cannon, a cowboy land of free speech
where religions can still be criticized, homosexuality can still
be publicly condemned, and ADL can still call Israel’s mildest
critic an “anti-Semite.”
And, to ADL’s dismay, the borderless internet can beam American-made “hate
sites” into other lands.
Unable to wield the law the way they’d like, ADL is trying
a different tactic.
In his speech, Wolf advocates less legal ambush and more handwringing
or, in his words, “exposing hate speech for its deceitful and
false content.”
Wolf points out that attempts to prosecute “hate criminals” have
backfired several times recently. For example, “The case brought
against Yahoo! to enforce the French law that prohibits the selling
or display of neo-Nazi memorabilia in the end trivialized the speech
codes directed at Holocaust questioners, and created a series of
precedents that could prove unhelpful in future, more serious prosecutions.”
In other words, the web is hard turf to police.
Wolf compares hunting down “cyberhaters” to chasing
cockroaches: “….squashing one does not solve the problem
when there are many more waiting behind the walls – or across
the border. Many see prosecution of Internet speech in one country
as a futile gesture when the speech can re-appear on the Internet
almost instantaneously, hosted by an ISP in the United States.”
Don’t think for a minute that Wolf doesn’t want ADL-defined “haters” behind
bars! He praises the recent prosecution of revisionist Ernst Zundel,
and only advocates caution because he wants to make sure legal precedents
are strong enough. For this reason, Wolf urges a judicious and careful
use of the law, and ever more passionate “counter speech” against “haters.”
Certainly there are extremists who misuse the internet to advocate
outright violence. But ADL doesn’t want just violence is prosecuted;
the league’s ultimate goal is to outlaw politically incorrect
speech, especially moral criticism of homosexuality and other expressions
of Christian conscience.
The aim of hate laws was evident in the UK’s debate last
winter over a Religious and Racial Hatred Bill that would have made
the Bible an illegal piece of “hate literature” in Britain.
(The bill was ultimately moderated. “Threatening,” but
not insulting, religious language is now banned.)
Wolf’s speech is both heartening and gloomy. Heartening,
because it reveals the frustration of ADL attempts to crack down
on internet speech. But also gloomy, as it shows the fervor of ADL
to control the thoughts and words of the entire world.
If they can’t regulate cyberspace through the law, they may
be able to use the economy. Jewish-led telephone and cable giants,
such as Verizon and Comcast, are working to control the content of
the web. They are pouring millions into Congress, lobbying for permission
to commercialize the internet and gain the right to discriminate
against and exclude “cyberhaters.” (See, "Threats
to a Free Internet")
But, for now, America and the internet remain fertile soils for
free debate of political and moral truths. Yes, weeds grow there,
too. But a few weeds in a flourishing garden are far preferable to
a paved parking lot.
The best way to keep the internet free right now is to keep the
big phone and cable companies from making a business of it. Legislation
encouraging phone and cable takeover of the internet has already
passed the House of Representatives.
Your US senators need to hear from you today. Call 202-225-3121
and say, “Please do not support legislation that will allow
the internet to be commercialized by the big phone and cable companies.”
