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Dem Senator Markey Seeks To Regulate Media For ‘Hate Crimes’…
Posted on May 1, 2014 by sundance
A new Democrat proposal would empower the feds to scour the Internet, TV and more for so-called hate speech.Democratic Sen. Ed Markey is pushing a bill to have a federal agency monitor anything that it suspects may encourage hate crimes. He wants the agency to work in connection with the Department of Justice and U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, then file a report to Congress on what’s hateful and could lead to hate crimes.
So, who gets to decide what’s hateful and what will they then do about it?
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/05/01/all-your-internet-thoughts-are-belong-to-us-dem-senator-markey-seeks-to-regulate-media-for-hate-crimes/
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“This proposed legislation is worse than merely silly,” said civil liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate, in Breitbart. “It is dangerous. It is not up to Sen. Markey, nor to the federal government, to define for a free people what speech is and is not acceptable.”
Mr. Markey’s bill would not only commission a study, it would also call on the researchers to identify hate speech and recommend how to stop it. Mr. Markey defended his bill by saying that it makes “crystal clear that any recommendations must be consistent with the First Amendment’s free speech protections,” Breitbart reported.
That claim has other First Amendment legal minds howling.
“He’s not going to be able to come up with legislation that sufficiently protects the First Amendment,” said Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, Breitbart reported.
And from Gene Policinski of the First Amendment Center: “Anytime government in any form or level looks to study our speech — even something that we might all consider detestable speech — we need to pay attention.”
Somehow, I think that what constitutes "hate speech" for Mr. Markey is quite different than what you and I might think is hate speech. Which, of course, is why we have the First Amendment in the first place. Reasonable people might disagree about a definition of hate speech, but that doesn't matter as long as it's all protected.
Harry Reid's efforts to change the Constitution and Markey's drive to control speech he doesn't like exposes the Democrat's anti-liberty agenda. Neither proposal is likely to go anywhere, but as an exercise in coercion and control, it should be highlighted this election year.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/05/senator_markey_looks_to_regulate_all_media_for_hate_crimes.html |
