http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...speech-twitter
If you're looking to diminish your faith in the future of humanity, a good place to start is always the left rail of Twitter's website, whose list of "trending topics" details the most popular inanities of the day. But in France, this December, the Justin Bieber hashtags dropped down the hit parade and a much more sinister one topped the charts. If you clicked #SiMonFilsEstGay ("If my son is gay"), which trended for days, you could see thousands upon thousands of violently homophobic messages – suggesting that young people who come out should be imprisoned, castrated, murdered … you name it.
And that was not the only hateful hashtag of the month. There was also #SiMaFilleRamèneUnNoir ("If my daughter brings a black man home"), which brought together juvenile humor and appalling racism. Earlier in the month came #UnBonJuif ("A good Jew"), whose violent antisemitism seemed to revolve around cooking jokes; and if that was too subtle for you, there was also #UnJuifMort ("A dead Jew").
This whole vile outpouring may just be par for the course in the wilds of social media. But in France, hateful statements like this are more than contemptible. They're illegal – and the government noticed.
"These statements are prohibited by law," wrote Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the women's rights minister, in an op-ed this weekend. "And those who make them are not less punishable and less likely to appear in court because they appear online."
To an American ear that may sound chilling, but it sounds quite different on the other side of the Atlantic. Like every other country in the European Union, France has a law that criminalizes incitement to hatred based on race or religion. (Think of John Galliano, the fashion designer, who was convicted of "public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity" after drunkenly ranting about his love for Hitler.)
Homophobic hate speech is also illegal in France and 11 other EU nations. So whether or not anyone is prosecuted, making the point that hateful tweets are illegal is not an extraordinary step. (continued at link)
Yes, RPFers, this is your future. No thought criminals will go unpunished. As AF would say, the future is full of FAIL.
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