And how long after that do you think it will take the Ivory Tower troglodytes here to start clamoring for a similar prohibition?

Once again Robert Spencer and Jihad Watch bring us news that you just won't find anywhere else.

If all goes as planned, the 27 member states of the European Union will soon have a common hate crime legislation, which will turn disapproval for Islamic practices or homosexual lifestyles into crimes. Europe's Christian churches are trying to stop the plan of the European political establishment, but it is not clear if they will be successful.

Disapproval? How far does this go? If I were in London and said in a pub there that stoning women to death is an outrageous and immoral practice, would I be guilty of an EU hate crime?

Under the directive, harassment - defined as conduct "with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment" - is deemed a form of discrimination.

Harassment, as vaguely defined in the directive, allows an individual to accuse someone of discrimination merely for expressing something the individual allegedly perceives as creating an "offensive environment." The definition is so broad that anyone who feels intimidated or offended can easily bring legal action against those whom he feels are responsible. Moreover, the directive shifts the burden of proof onto the accused, who has to prove the negative, i.e. demonstrate that he or she did not create an environment which intimidated or offended the complainant. If the accused fails to do so, he or she can be sentenced to paying an unlimited amount of compensation for "harassment." [...]

That's really the most egregious part of this, in my opinion. I'm not saying the entire concept isn't immoral, it is. But shifting the burden of proof to the accused is like making a rape victim prove that she wasn't raped. I'm intentionally using the most heinous of crimes to make my point.

I have two t-shirts in my arsenal that I wear relatively frequently. The first says "Infidel" and the second, in Arabic and English, says "I will not submit." I can't help but think that both of those t-shirts would be actionable harassment in the EU under a hate crime law like this.

And understand something else, I bought and wear those t-shirts precisely because I want to create an offensive environment for Islam. Consider it my humble retaliation for the offensive environment created by Islam in New York City, Washington D.C. and all of America on 9/11. I was in Newark, NJ that day and McCarter Highway literally became a war zone. I was very offended. Who do I sue.

Russ

The Danish Cartoons