And for Stephanie...

And for all of use here at Salon doomed to eternal hell...

And especially for me, because I'm definitely gonna check out this film when it is released!

See, I feel much more comfortable committing the sin of...umm...watching a rom-com, knowing that you will pray for my filthy soul.

So get on your knees already, dude....

(No innuendo intended.;-)

I think everyone needs a group hug.

Followed by a group tushy squeeze.

Whaddaya think?

You gave the only Editor's Choice Award on this letter thread to the one letter - by Planetary_Eulogy - which repeatedly (and non-sarcastically) talks about "stupid niggers"?

Really? So unvarnished racism gets a free pass on Salon now? Did y'all get bought out by Fox News?

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Oh, and Mr. Eulogy?

I attended a school where intelligent kids like me were separated from the dumb masses, and put in special accelerated classes...

And ya know what? There were still bullies among the bright kids.

Moreover, some of the nicest, most decent folk I've ever interacted with come from the mongoloid masses and "stupid niggers" you deplore. Just sayin'...

Let's just say you get Toronto gets hit by a massive earthquake....

Or Russia decides its time to cross the Bering Strait and occupy your sovereign land...and delivers a couple nukes ahead of its troops to drive home its intentions....

Who are ya gonna call?

Who do ya need? Who do ya love?

That's what I thought.

You're Welcome.

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By the way, how much aid have you all given to Sudan? or Africa, for that matter?

How many of your kids dedicate time to the Peace Corps?

When a natural disaster or belligerent act of war occurs, who does the world turn to? Canada? Puh-leeze.

We Americans can be ugly. We can act like assholes.

We also do a lot more good than our whiny neighbors who are soooo scared of us...yet who curiously love crossing the border to shop at our stores.

We are the world's deeply flawed superpower. We didn't ask for the role....our work ethic, innovation and resultant economic success got us there.

Ya gotta problem with that?

Then down some Prozac with your fuckin' maple syrup, Red Green.

...but nothing beats "existentialist" tired: *yawn* I am just so very tired of it all...*sighhh*

Or, for that matter, "ancient old fart" tired! --

What?!? I have to be active for 2 more months until I lose this election? *yawn* Can't I just spend all day watching Matlock reruns before I fall asleep at 4 pm? And where's my goddang mashed peas, Cindy?!

Dear God, I'm so very tired...please take me already! *sighhhh*

What the hell is "free expression", anyway?

You say in your country you don't have the right to be a prick...

Well, who gets to define who IS and who IS NOT a "prick"?

The government? The courts?

I have no love for Limbaugh and Coulter...

But by the same token, a conservative in the US may think that Al Gore is a prick for talking about the environment.

And maybe the Chinese government is right to silence political dissidents because they were acting like pricks - by THEIR definition.

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The difference between us in the US - and countries of "Free Expression" like your Canada, and China - is that we don't react to pricks by banning them or censoring them.

We let them talk their bullshit - and then we respond in a way which illuminates their idiocy.

After all: the weakest response to dumb / bigoted / misleading / all of the above speech is to merely say "Shut up."

Suppressing or banning hate speech does not suppress or ban hate.

Furthermore, hate speech incites hate ONLY when it goes unchallenged. In fact, progressive responses to hate speech probably sway a lot more minds than a climate where things that are not p.c. are not uttered.

Moi? I'd rather live in a place where a Neo-Nazi or Christian fundie bellows about minorities, homosexuals, feminists than a place where people keep their bigotry to themselves. Openness of opinion can lead to debate.

Suppressed/repressed hate? Now THAT scares the shit outta me!

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And you still didn't tackle the heart of my question:

If you say no hate speech - fine. But who gets to define "hate speech"?

Is a comic who makes fun of middle-class white people being hateful? Is a comic (say, Carlos Mencia) who makes fun of fellow Latinos and calls them "beaners" practicing hate speech?

And if we are hypothetically both Canadian citizens, and you answer yes to those questions and I answer no...who is right?

To each country their own, I guess. I'll take my flawed, constantly attacked yet still (to me) bedrock-principled system any day.

Cheers...

I do not doubt that the forces behind Political Correctness had good intentions - and I certainly am no fan of those who use hate to create fear and antipathy...

But to me, there can be no constructive criticism or exchange of ideas if we merely turn a blind eye to the distasteful.

And, as your lesbian/feminist bookstore example illustrates, laws which are meant to be "protective" can often do more harm than good.

People are much stronger than the collective society and/or government thinks; as an ethnic minority, I can absorb the blow of hate speech - once I am allowed to respond to it in a free way myself, you know?

Thanks again.