The BFD | Free Speech Essential for Social Reform

familyfirst.org.nz

“Free-speech is my right to say what you don’t want to hear”

– George Orwell

You can view and download the full Hate Speech fact sheet here.

MAKE A SUBMISSION TO THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE by 6 August 2021

Freedom of Speech has been essential to the success of significant past reforms such as: the abolition of slavery, the right for women to vote, the American civil rights movement, opposition to apartheid in South Africa, and the Waitangi Tribunal.

It’s easy to claim, in hindsight, the outcomes of these significant cultural moments should have been obvious. But we forget these battles were fought by courageous people publicly voicing unpopular opinions against the prevailing attitudes of the time. Hate speech laws would have been a significant threat to the fearless voices of reform in those movements.

On Multiple Fronts

The proposed law changes are just one front on which freedom of speech is threatened. The battle is also being fought on four other fronts where social, rather than criminal, sanctions are being used as weapons of political intimidation.

FIRST: Workplace Intimidation

The infiltration of social activism, political agendas and “woke politics” into corporate workplaces and policies is very concerning. Employees who hold views not considered politically-correct in the workplace are bullied into silence and self-censorship through intimidation, ridicule and threat of losing positions or employment. Many privately report they stay silent on personal political or religious views for reasons of self-preservation. In the workplace, tolerance has become a one-way street.

SECOND: Corporate Cowardice

Threats of boycotts and brand-reputation-damage for businesses who do not follow the latest woke narrative are increasingly common, resulting in corporate cowardice in an attempt to appease the activist mob. Company directors and government department leaders should stop being intimidated and distracted by woke demands and focus on business and mission interests ahead of political ones.

Another form of corporate cowardice is book banning, where book sellers remove titles from their catalogues which are supposedly “harmful”. This is entirely hypocritical in the example of Amazon, who have delisted titles which question gender ideology e.g., “When Harry Became Sally” by Ryan T. Anderson, while still selling Hitler’s political manifesto, “Mein Kampf”, for the purpose of academic analysis.¹³

THIRD: Big-Tech Censorship

This includes intimidation from takedowns, shadowbanning, traffic throttling, demonetisation, and suspension of accounts. The passive acceptance in the general public of these increasingly heavy-handed tactics of big-tech and corporate censorship, supposedly for our own protection, is a very concerning threat to our open and democratic society.

FOURTH: “Cancel Culture”

Public figures and professionals are lynched on social media and de-platformed for questioning popular woke ideology, sending a clear message of intimidation to others to self-censor. Public meetings and platforms should be a place where the free exchange of ideas are debated in a pursuit of truth. But disruptive protests, venue cancellations, and even threats of violent protests are being used as excuses to shut down such events.

These four types of censorship and intimidation have resulted in the silencing of dissenting ideas and open dialogue on continuous issues which deserve to be openly debated.

“Underlying prejudices, injustices or resentments are not addressed by arresting people: they are addressed by the issues being aired, argued and dealt with preferably outside the legislative process. For me, the best way to increase society’s resistance to insulting or offensive speech is to allow a lot more of it. As with childhood diseases, you can better resist those germs to which you have been exposed.”

UK Comedian Rowan Atkinson (a.k.a. Mr Bean)¹⁵

The most prominent recent case of cancel culture and the consequence of perceived ‘hate speech’ is Israel Folau who tweeted firstly his personal view opposing the redefinition of marriage, and then in response to a specific question put to him, a paraphrase of a bible passage. The public reaction to his social media posts was entirely disproportionate to his actions and amounted to a public lynching intended to destroy him and his career. If hate speech laws existed at the time, it can be assumed they would have been applied to his situation without mercy.

What Is Woke?

To be Woke is to have been “woken up” to the important social justice issues of the day and hold a more radical progressive view on issues of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality and identity. Being Woke means being aware of injustices according to progressive values, and embracing social reengineering in an attempt to deconstruct traditional values and institutions (such as the nuclear family and the Church) which are falsely seen as a threat to addressing those injustices.

Driving Unsavoury Ideas Underground

An unforeseen result of the suppression of free speech is the driving of genuinely hateful, radicalised and dangerous groups (such as neo-Nazi groups) underground into private dark-web echo-chambers.

Dr Paul Moon says, “The case could be made that restrictions on the open expression of ideas could end up intensifying radicalisation… Anyone who thinks that a change in law will diminish hate clearly has little grasp on history.”¹⁴

You can’t always fix hateful and obnoxious ideas simply by banning them. Rather, when allowed into the sunlight of public discourse, they can be thoroughly and publicly discredited. The result being those who are susceptible to such dangerous ideas can be inoculated against them.

Additional Questions

The discussion document the Ministry of Justice released in June 2021 raises significant unanswered questions, beyond the broader principles highlighted above, including:

Why are only some groups protected and not others? The proposed laws want to expand existing “incitement” protections to other presumably vulnerable groups such as gay, lesbian, transgender, non-binary, etc. Yet those groups tend to be those which progressive left-leaning “woke” people want to protect. Why only those groups? Aren’t all humans hurt by hate, regardless of their group membership? Will Christians be a protected group?

Why such harsh penalties? Proposed penalties of up to three years imprisonment and fines of up to $50,000 are entirely disproportionate to the presumed harm suffered. Common assault is only punishable by up to one-year imprisonment. Why is the punishment for hate speech crimes three times greater? What does that say to the victims of actual violent crime?

What about conflicting interests? If a mosque insults an LGBT group with its teaching on homosexuality, while the same members of the LGBT group insult Islam with its teaching on organised religion, whose right to be protected from “hate” would prevail? Or could they both be prosecuted?

Can the Police and Courts cope? How will our already stretched criminal justice system cope with the flood of bitter complainants and defendants eager to have their rights protected from “hateful” ideas? Is it really the job of the police and courts to mediate disputes involving offended feelings?

Is there a difference between public and private speech? Will the expression of opinions in private places be protected under the law? Or can I be punished for expressing offensive views to friends and family around the BBQ or dinner table?¹⁶

What about political viewpoints? The line between political views and moral views is impossible to define. What if political views questioning government policy are deemed offensive and “hateful”? Could I go to prison for merely insulting someone’s political beliefs?

What about religious expression? Will reading a Bible verse in church, or a passage from the Koran in a mosque break the law? Could my pastor/minister face imprisonment and fines for merely teaching certain (offensive to some) passages from the Bible? Will my religious expression be protected?

Read the full poll here. Both issues covered in the polls on this page have been included in aspects of ‘hate speech’ laws or proposals in other countries, including Scotland, Norway, Canada, UK, and Tasmania state.¹⁷

In 2018, Warkworth baker Kath received a request to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding which she politely refused due to her personal beliefs on the definition of marriage. Consequently, she was harassed with days of intense media coverage and vitriolic ‘hate speech’ accusations and physical threats including her home address on her social media accounts and website.¹⁸

Conclusion

Proposed hate-speech laws are being smuggled in under the pretence of ‘the public good’. After all, who can disagree with the idea of banning hate? But beneath the shiny veneer of good intentions lies one of the most dangerous law changes our country has faced in recent history.

Belonging to a group should not afford special protections that result in the removal of the rights of others to disagree with them.

Political activists and special interest groups will miss the important distinction between hate-speech, and merely speech they hate, and end up using such laws as tools of political intimidation to punish opponents and shut down debate in the marketplace of ideas.

Laws already exist banning the incitement of violence. There is far too much ambiguity in what constitutes “hate”. And the risk of misapplication and abuse for political ends is far too high. These laws must be rejected for the sake of a fair, open and democratic society.

Other Commentary

Important commentaries on proposed hate speech laws

Bruce Logan: Hate speech legislation is hateful

Speak Up

Exercise your freedom of speech and make your voice heard. Make a submission to your MP, the Ministry of Justice or any future Select Committee considering such laws. Visit HateSpeech.nz for further instructions and forward this Fact Sheet onto others to help get the word out. You can also view and download the full Hate Speech fact sheet here… Fact Sheet