DEVON KRUGGEL -- Free speech is important, but people abuse it. They abuse it all the time.

 

I have spent most of my life, so far, being a very, very strong free speech absolutist. I don't think I was exactly at the Elon Musk level, but I believed that speech had to be as unrestricted as possible.

I was wrong in that belief.

Free speech is important, but people abuse it. They abuse it all the time and there are real world consequences that cause harm to innocent third parties.

Look at the United States.

Their freedom of speech is unparalleled. The violence that arises from it is almost equally unparalleled. Hate crimes in America against people of colour, women, those of other religions, and LGBTQ+ people have all been on the rise.

A young non-binary teenager named Nex Benedict died of their wounds from a fight in a bathroom that they were supposed to use a couple of weeks ago. They were still singled out for being non-binary. Yeah, they were in the bathroom that matched their biological sex and still killed. A black transgender woman's killer was only recently brought to justice. Dozens up dozens more are still open cases - actual murders and almost all are suspected hate crimes.

Donald Trump stirred his most radical supporters when he lost the 2020 election. On January 6th, 2021, they had a riot, dozens were injured, and 4 people killed. Trump sat back in his office far from the fray. He didn't care that anyone got hurt or died.

Last fall, here in Canada, we had heated protests with people stomping on Pride flags, burning them, and referring to LGBTQ+ people as groomers. Activists across this country have since reported harassment, up to and including explicit death threats.

Since the attack on Israel and the war on Gaza we've had numerous protests with escalating rhetoric from both sides. Threats and acts of vandalism have been equally numerous. The people stirring up this hate do it from their computers and the safety of echo chambers. They are literal puppeteers.

So, we can't have pure free speech. That's my belief. We can get close to it. Pretty close in fact. But we need law enforcement to have rules that we as a society deem appropriate to tell people there is a line and that there will be consequences if you cross it.

What the Liberals are going to put forward, and I think we all know this, is going to be mediocre and with few teeth. They want to be seen as doing something while not actually doing something.

They aren't really going to address the problem – one which is not only staring us in the face -- but tearing our communities apart.


ABOUT DEVON KRUGGEL:
I'm a 50-year-old Caucasian male and was a right winger of sorts from the age of 16 until I was about 47 or so. I have got a degree in History and Political Science and one in Computer Science. Bachelors. I've been in BC since 1990, and have lived on Vancouver Island since 1993.