Andrew Bolt comments on Australia's Victoria State ridiculous hate speech laws in the Herald Sun (thanks to OBL r Us):
PREMIER Steve Bracks promised four years ago to give us "racial and religious tolerance" if we gave up our free speech.What fools people were to believe him....
Every case, each more trivial than the last, involves worry and legal costs. Each one makes yet more people too scared to talk freely.
Then there was that other promise – that the laws would "promote . . . tolerance". Instead, they've set us at each other's throat.
Take this case against Nalliah and Scott, pastors with the Catch the Fires pentecostal church.
Without Bracks' laws, these men would have quietly given their church seminar on jihad three years ago to 250 fellow worshippers and none of us would have even known. But the laws changed everything.
They inspired the Equal Opportunity Commission to urge Muslims to complain, and one EOC employee, May Helou, even asked three converts from the Islamic Council of Victoria -- of which she was an official -- to drop in on the pastors' seminar.
So began a three-year prosecution against the pastors that has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Last December, Judge Higgins finally ruled that Scot in particular had offended by quoting the Koran in a way that got "a response from the audience at various times in the form of laughter". Is laughter now a crime?
Stranger still, he gave 13 examples of how Scot had "made fun of Muslim beliefs and conduct", at least eight of which involved him quoting the Koran, and, I believe, accurately. Yes, the Koran indeed authorises men to beat their wives. Yes, it indeed calls for thieving hands to be chopped off.
What did Scot say that was false? The judge listed just two trivial examples, but also said Scot hadn't made clear enough he was giving a literalist reading of the Koran that wasn't mainstream.
Did he? Isn't it? On such points, so deserving of debate, Scot was convicted of stating the wrong opinion.
But if the judgment was strange, so was the penalty.
Scot and Nalliah must now run four big advertisements, costing $70,000, in the Herald Sun and The Age, declaring they've been found guilty of bad-mouthing Muslims.
Oddly, these apologies must reach not just the 250 people who were at their seminar, but 2.5 million newspaper readers who weren't. Odder still, the judge ordered the pastors to never even imply what they'd said about the Koran. They are banned from speaking their mind not only in Victoria, but anywhere in Australia, where others are still free to say what they may not.
Not surprisingly, the pastors say they'd rather go to jail than comply. Let's see if Bracks dares let this happen.
There has been enormous web-wide reaction to this story, from far right to mid-left (the loony left is doubtless very happy at Judge Higgins).
My thought is to start a boycott of Austrialian products. Australian wine seems a good target. I did sent a note to the address on this web page:
http://www2.visitvictoria.com/displayObject.cfm/ObjectID.25CD7CE7-2D76-4988-AB3B5D8AE2CA9049/vvt.vhtml
Going after Steve Irwin and Animal Planet might another good target.
"Last December, Judge Higgins finally ruled that Scot in particular had offended by quoting the Koran in a way that got "a response from the audience at various times in the form of laughter". Is laughter now a crime?
Stranger still, he gave 13 examples of how Scot had "made fun of Muslim beliefs and conduct", at least eight of which involved him quoting the Koran, and, I believe, accurately. Yes, the Koran indeed authorises men to beat their wives. Yes, it indeed calls for thieving hands to be chopped off."
This is not only a national scandal, it is an insult to every Australian and as a result the nation is on its knees to the Mohammedan scourge.
The 'Australian' buried the story on page 6.
I just hope the pastors will not cave in and stand up for their rights. The government has to intervene on behalf of free speech.
Loxias:
Don't punish Australian winemakers. Most of them would be on our side.
Remember: It's Muzzies who are only allowed to drink wine in heaven?
Trouble with the Aussies is that they don't care for anything but ball-games.
The only way to rally the Aussies for anything is to stop all liquor sales and close the pubs for a week. Then of course, you would have a movement.
Loxius - boycotting the products of a major US ally won't help, since most Australians are 100% against this law, which is in use in only one state. The other Australian states have firmly rejected it.
Higgins made so many errors in his judgement that the case must be thrown out on appeal.
The pastors read directly from the koran and were told to stop, because they were 'vilifying Islam'.
What a joke. Please everyone, write and email this judge, so at least they know that overseas eyes are upon them.
Terminator - you were talking about forming a 'group' a while back. Is that still going to happen?
A simple solution to this problem may be to provide the Muslims in Victoria with a touch of the same medicine; simply send someone to their mosques to obtain literature sold at their bookstores espousing hate of infidels, etc.; then file appropriate complaints with the Victoria EOC, and prosecute the mosques, Imams, etc. for intolerance; I wonder how quick Muslims in Australia will be to seek prosecution for non-Muslim free speech, when they themselves will be speedily (hopefully) prosecuted for their violations.
3rdtimelucky:
I'm in Sydney, do you want to get in touch?
Terminator
I think that Australians will only start to wake up to the threat from muslims, when they start to close all pubs and liquor stores.
Then and only then will Australians start to fight back.
If laughing at the Koran is a crime, I about due for '1,000 years in Sing-Sing'!
What were the big examples of gross intolerance in Australia which brought to a head the pressing need (at least in some Aussies' minds) for this anti-free speech legislation?
I don't remember hearing about it.
BigSleep, I don't remember hearing any examples of gross intolerance either, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was simply a matter of Islamic groups agitating for it. They probably made up stories about how they feel threatened and afraid after 9/11. Say this to a left-leaning politician eager to stay in power, and that's probably enough to do it. The premier of NSW (also leftie Labor) said he would not support the law. Same with the Western Australian one (he, too, is a leftie). But Islamic groups there still whine about it, still agitate for it.
Problem is, this case is not talked about in the media too much. A brief story buried deep in the paper, with key elements missing, is all I've seen. I heard a few calls on talkback radio about it. Most callers were incensed at it, some quite informed about Islam. A few Muslims called, and lied, as they do. No, the Koran does not teach hatred and violence against non-Muslims, they claimed. Standard lie. A Muslim lawyer even stated that on television in a Islam vs. Christianity forum a while back. It's amazing how comfortable they are at blatant lying. Since most people are ignorant of Islam, they believe it, or don't know how to dispute it. If you do stand your ground, then, of course, you have to deal with threats.
3X, DianaC, feralee, voltaire:
All you Aussies out there:
Get in touch with Susanp from JW and confirm that you want to do something about it and as long as she confirms that everyone is cool (I nearly wrote:kosher) we'll get in touch and everyone by that time should think about how many other concerned people we can rally for the cause and, as you know:
Strength is in numbers! We cant just be a 'fringe' group from the outer, outer far "right"... I mean you know that this is not about left and right, this is not about religion or spiritual enlightenment:
This is about a totalitarian Ideology based on conquest and booty, worse than Nazism, worse than communism, in fact a blood-cult that needs to be stopped, whatever it takes.
Our children and grandchildren will be grateful!