I always love when Americans tell me, a Canadian, I don't have free speech. What can you say that I can't?
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2024
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Can you express unpopular opinions without the government stepping in?
Absolutely! Unless your opinion is visible minorities should die. In which case, you can't publish it. You can still say it in private or in non-public forums.
So three things.
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That's not free speech then. If you want to run your country that way, fine, but don't call it free speech.
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Even horrible speech should be protected. An old quote: "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." and it's one I like. If someone wants to out themselves as a bigot, I say let them.
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Misgendering someone is not saying anyone should die, visible minorities or not.
- This is the part I find wierd. Americans can't say anything they want at all times. Americans can go to jail for threatening to kill someone. They can go to jail for lying in court. They can go to jail for submitting paperwork with false information on it or convincing people to do something based on false information. That's all limitations on speech. Why is the test for free speech "Can the KKK publish their books? No = Not free speech. Yes = Free speech".
As an aside, It's just like how Americans say they're the most free when they have the highest prison population. Canadians can smoke cannabis but Americans go to jail for it. Canadians can get an abortion but Americans go to jail for it. Canadians can buy pseudoephedrine but Americans can't. When a Canadian leaves the country they dont need to pay Canadian taxes, but Americans still do even when abroad. I really don't get what Americans think freedom is. It really just feels like no limits on guns and bigotry is all one needs to be free. Nothing else matters.
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I agree. Canada has hate speech laws, not horrible speech laws. They're incredibly specific and the average person would have a hard time getting in trouble with them. The only cases seem to be with prominent neo-nazis and gay bashers who made repeated, direct, and public calls to harm specific and easily identifiable groups.
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I agree. Misgendering someone isn't hate speech and wouldn't even come close to meeting the standard the Canadian supreme court has set. Since the group needs to be readily and easily identifiable, it could even be argued transgender people aren't protected from hate speech at all.
On the freedom thing, its more about the government is forbidden from doing and not what it does. Afaik, no other country says that the government can not abridge rights.
Why is the test for free speech "Can the KKK publish their books? No = Not free speech. Yes = Free speech".
Because unpopular speech is the speech that would get hit first. Especially if its unpopular for a reason.