The Real Face of “Hate Speech”

Apropos “hate speech,” it’s interesting that none of those who are so active in promoting censorship as a means of fighting it even noticed the most extreme and potentially dangerous outburst of it in recent memory.  I refer to the obsessive hatred of the United States promoted in the mass media of any number of countries around the world.  It reached extreme levels in the final years of the Clinton and first years of the Bush adminstrations before apparently finally choking on its own excess.  I speak German, and followed the development of the phenomenon there with interest and dismay.  It became so extreme that it occasionally became difficult to find any news about Germany among the rants about the evils of the United States on the websites of such “news” outlets as that of Spiegel magazine.

We humans are characterized by “moral” behavior that distinguishes between “good” in-groups, and “evil” out-groups, a trait that I have elsewhere referred to as the Amity/Enmity Complex.  No aspect of our nature could be so mind-bogglingly obvious, yet the neuroscientists and other experts who specialize in the workings of the human mind have yet to “discover” it.  It happens to be in conflict with ideological myths, particularly prevalent in academia, about the universal brotherhood of mankind.  Earlier generations of so-called experts willfully ignored the abundant evidence regarding the profound influence of innate, “hard-wired” predispositions on human behavior for decades on account of similar myths, until their faces were literally rubbed in the truth by advances in brain imaging techniques and other diagnostic tools.  As long as research in the field is not suppressed, their faces will eventually be rubbed in the truth of the Amity/Enmity Complex as well.  When that happens, I suspect they will see the question of hate speech in a rather different light.

Among other things, they are likely to notice that “hate speech” is only recognized as such when directed at an in-group.  At the time when expressions of anti-American hate reached their most extreme levels in Germany and elsewhere, those who were most active in spewing that hate characterized their vicious diatribes as “objective criticism.”  As one on the receiving end of their hate speech, I found their rationalizations absurd, and yet I don’t doubt they actually believed their own cant.  Americans were an out-group, and therefore, at least in their minds, incapable of being victims of hate speech. 

It is for that reason that attempts by government to censor hate speech, such as the Canadian Human Rights Commission or the “international organization” favored by French foreign minister Kouchner, as noted in an earlier post, are futile.  As intrinsically political organizations they must inevitably be blind to hate speech directed at their political foes, or “out-groups.”  I know of not a single instance of such an organization raising the least objection to the mindless demonization and villification of the United States, even when it was at its most extreme.  The only real antidote to hate speech is free speech.

Another Faux Vietnam Vet

The latest is Richard Blumenthal, a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Connecticutt. According to the Grey Lady, he claims he was in Vietnam, but was never there. Chalk up another one in the tradition of Tom Harkin and John Kerry with his Cambodia yarns.

Apparently Blumenthal laid it on pretty thick with lines like,

I served during the Vietnam era. I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even physical abuse.

I doubt he would have really experienced any of that even if he actually had been in Vietnam. If anecdotal evidence is any indication, I never experienced anything like it when I came back, nor did I ever hear any of my fellow soldiers complain of anything of the sort. Perhaps there were some isolated incidents, but I suspect the notion that we were all subjected to such widespread abuse is an historical myth.

Insty Finally Winds Down

According to a post on his blog yesterday,

I’ve also left a few scheduled posts, but don’t be fooled — if you’re looking for me, I’ll be trying to stay offline as much as possible, so email response will be something between slow and nonexistent. Sorry, but I need a break.

I was beginning to wonder how long he could keep it up without a rest. His productivity as a blogger over the years has been incredible, especially when you take into account his day job as a law professor, and all the other stuff he does in his “copious free time.” A stellar cast of blogosphere celebrities has taken his place for the time being, but I hope we don’t have to wait too long before he gets back in harness.

Obama for “Dictator”

Woody Allen suggests that Obama be appointed dictator for a few years so he can get things done without Republican interference. I personally would prefer Fielding Mellish.