Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jnr Criticise Irish Soviet Style hate crime legislation.
A “New Bill to create a whole new crime which claims to tackle “hate crime and hate speech” includes what it claims as “clear provision to protect freedom of expression” is how the Irish government describe their new hate bill which is the very opposite of what it will do. So why have they have glaringly left out UN and European protections of freedom of expression?
The Bill, going through Seanad, said to legislate against so called “hate crimes” has generated worldwide attention and condemnation. The Bill is designed to tighten up legislation criminalising hate speech and legislate against ‘hate crimes’ for the first time in Irish law.
On Sunday Donald Trump Jr called the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 as “insane” in response to a tweet. Mr Trump Jnr, whose father former US President Donld Trump has been visiting Ireland recently, said “it’s insane what’s happening in the ‘free world’. Elon Musk, owner and chief executive of Twitter, responding to a separate tweet about the legislation describing it as “very concerning”.
Protected Characteristics
The bills intent is to criminalise any utterances that could be describes as intentional or reckless communication or behaviour that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a readymade selective category of victims such as a person or persons with a “protected characteristic”. Since Irish people without a disability don’t come under the “protected characteristic” category any so called hate speech directed against them will not be an offence. Such characteristics include nationality, race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Any person or group who seeks to ‘incite hatred’ against any one of these characteristics may be guilty of an offence carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Hateful Equipment Possessed by all Men
TD Paul Murphy said in the Oireachtas that a section in the Bill created the possibility of a person being criminalised “purely for having material that is hateful, without that material being communicated to the public”. This he said resulted in “the creation of a thought crime,” that contained “a dangerous reversal of the burden of proof, where the burden is now placed on the accused to overturn the presumption that the material was not intended for personal use. We must try to create good law and this section, creating a thought crime, is very problematic,”. The Irish People can add to that by saying that every man in Ireland has the material and the equipment capable of rape so their genitalia alone could be construed by malcontents playing victim as having equipment they would describe as hateful under this bill.
The Most Radical Hate Speech Bill
A tweet posted by Keith Wood said: “Ireland is about to pass one of the most radical hate speech bills yet. Merely possessing ‘hateful’ material on your devices is enough to face prison time. “Not only that, but the burden of proof is shifted to the accused, who is expected to prove they didn’t intend to use the material to ‘spread hate’. This clause is so radical that even the Trotskyist People Before Profit [PBP] opposed it as a flagrant violation of civil liberties. Dark times.”
Artistic Expression
The legislation repealing previous incitement to hatred laws is intended to make prosecutions easier. It is claimed however that while making prosecution easier the bar for a prosecution remains high – a defendant must have ‘deliberately’ intended to incite hatred or violence against a person on account of their protected characteristic. How can anyone determine another’s thoughts or deliberations with any accuracy unless the person in question describes their deliberation? It’s time for anybody accused to shut up lest they unwittingly condemn themselves. or are thought crimes included. Can people’s minds be read for judicial purposes? Defences include a reasonable and genuine contribution to literary, artistic, political, scientific or academic debates. I was expressing myself artistically Judge. See how far that will get anyone.
Victimhood Mind-set
The government claims that the legislation was developed following a public consultation process which drew about 4,000 responses (from the usual suspects no doubt as the general public were not included). The Department of Justice followed up by consulting with carefully selected academics and experts of a certain mind-set before bringing its details to Cabinet in October 2022. Everybody with a victimhood mind-set will have a field day. Anything that opposes the governments dictates can and will be defined as hate speech. That is the ultimate form of government censorship. Irish People beware of the jackboot.