Political Censorship Now Widespread

The idea that saying negative things about certain selected groups of people is "hate speech", and is so very bad that it is not entitled to free speech protections, now seems to be widespread. In the USA, the First Amendment limits what governments can do to restrict so-called "hate speech" but the government is in fact a small player in the mass communications market. Note the report below for instance:

Google insisted it already had complied with court requests to identify individuals accused of using Orkut to spread child pornography and engage in hate speech against blacks, Jews and homosexuals

Not only is "hate speech" forbidden but people who engage in it can be tracked down and legally pursued in various ways. The day would seem to be not far off when saying negative things about Leftist politicians is declared "hate speech" -- with a Left-leaning mass media gleefully enforcing suppression of such speech.

Never have blogs been more needed. That Google also owns the biggest blogging service -- blogspot -- is therefore a source of some concern for the future. Since I use blogspot, I once again encourage people to bookmark my list of mirror sites.

I have just put up on PC Watch an extended argument about why "hate" speech should not be censored.