When you're not you're not. I. Hate. Being. Wrong... but when I am, I'll admit it.
Free Dominion's Hate Speech Complaint: The offending thread that got FD in some hot HRC water this week has been revealed, and it wasn't, as I was thinking, just a typically ignorant comment that some Sensitivista over-reacted to, it was a doozy.
Not surprisingly it came from a guy named Bill Whatcott, by far the most outrageous poster on the site, a rabid bigot who routinely posts jaw-droppingly ignorant screeds against gays and Muslims; in this case the offending thread linked to this post against Muslims. Even by my forgiving standards, the post in question would qualify as hate speech, so I shudder to think how the HRC views it. It would definitely incite hatred of Muslims in those already so predisposed, some of whom might be found browsing forums like FD. Racist garbage of the highest order. In addition, the complainant went through the forums and found more anti-Muslim posts by Whatcott, clear evidence that this wasn't a one-off situation, but ongoing hate speech by the legal definition.
I still question the wisdom of going directly to the HRC with this, but that's probably just because my kneejerk response to everything is always, as they say in Mexico, "No policia! No policia!". However, there's a line between free speech and the abuse of free speech, and Mr. Whatcott's post clearly crosses it. I hope he intends to pay the fine.
Free Dominion's Hate Speech Complaint: The offending thread that got FD in some hot HRC water this week has been revealed, and it wasn't, as I was thinking, just a typically ignorant comment that some Sensitivista over-reacted to, it was a doozy.
Not surprisingly it came from a guy named Bill Whatcott, by far the most outrageous poster on the site, a rabid bigot who routinely posts jaw-droppingly ignorant screeds against gays and Muslims; in this case the offending thread linked to this post against Muslims. Even by my forgiving standards, the post in question would qualify as hate speech, so I shudder to think how the HRC views it. It would definitely incite hatred of Muslims in those already so predisposed, some of whom might be found browsing forums like FD. Racist garbage of the highest order. In addition, the complainant went through the forums and found more anti-Muslim posts by Whatcott, clear evidence that this wasn't a one-off situation, but ongoing hate speech by the legal definition.
I still question the wisdom of going directly to the HRC with this, but that's probably just because my kneejerk response to everything is always, as they say in Mexico, "No policia! No policia!". However, there's a line between free speech and the abuse of free speech, and Mr. Whatcott's post clearly crosses it. I hope he intends to pay the fine.
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