During last week’s OSCE/ODIHR conference in Warsaw, the Counterjihad Collective organized a side event entitled “Why Does Europe Hate Speech?” The following video from the event shows a talk given by Christine Douglass-Williams about the suppression of “hate speech” in Canada — which has grown increasingly totalitarian, especially under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for editing and uploading this video:
For links to previous articles about the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, see the OSCE Archives.
C Douglass-Williams reminds me of the principle Ayn Rand made so prominent in her novel, “Atlas Shrugged”: “A is A”.
In other words, you cannot hold a principle and its contradiction at the same time. Reality is consistent. You cannot repeal natural laws by decrees or legislation.
I say this because Williams is proud of her prior work concerning “civil rights” and “anti-hate”. She was instrumental in bringing government sanctions against people who wished to exercise freedom of association and not associate with, or hire, people they did not like. Williams attributes her own success to the triumph of anti-discrimination laws. I respectfully disagree, feeling that someone as eloquent, intelligent and reasonable as her (excluding her blindness concerning consistency and individual liberties) would be successful in any society where employers are free to choose their employees.
Williams now objects to the extension of her own work to people who are speaking against people Williams considers to be dangerous: jihadist Muslims. In other words, it’s OK to enforce anti-discrimination laws against employers for excluding people who are not dangerous, but merely unqualified. But, it’s not OK to enforce and extend anti-discrimination laws to exclude criticism against Islam and actions against Muslim immigration.
I’m afraid proponents of liberty will have to embrace the “A is A” principle and either support real freedom, including results they may not like, or else experience the repression that is the logical consequence of their own past actions.