ADL Battles Internet Free Speech
Rev. Ted Pike
Jessica posted these verses, which, of course, could be found on any Bible website: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." (Lev.18:22) "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their heads." (Lev. 20:13)
The court ruled:
"Ms. Beaumont claimed, during her testimony, that she based this comment on her interpretation of a passage in the Bible, adding that she did not care if Jews would be offended by her ideas. However, irrespective of whether she 'cares' or not, s.13 of the Act dictates that the repeated communication via the internet of matter that is likely to expose targeted groups to hatred or contempt constitutes a discriminatory practice. Whether the person communicating the matter was in fact its author is immaterial. The mere act of communicating the material or causing its communication attracts liability under this Act." 1
Jessica claims Nazi sympathies. Yet that should not distract us from the fact that Bible verses caused her conviction. As the world moves toward hate crimes persecution, hate law enforcers usually select victims with extremist views. They know society will not help these people but will probably rejoice at their conviction! But the free speech rights of every person are diminished by the legal precedents meted against extremists.
Persecution of Biblically based "hate" (i.e., Christianity) is the ultimate goal of B’nai B’rith Canada and the Canadian Jewish Congress, creators of Canada's federal hate crime law in 1971. In Canada, these extensions of ADL possess a powerful tool: federal law banning internet criticism of Jews and homosexuals. Section 13.1 outlaws communications "likely" to incite hatred or contempt of members of a federally protected group. ADL possesses similar statutory tools banning "cyberhate" in most European countries.
Strategies to End Internet Freedom
1. ADL puts pressure on search engines like Google to filter out websites which criticize Zionism or homosexuality. So far, it has not succeeded. Recently, Google's Israeli representative, Meir Brand, flatly repulsed ADL requests to ban internet criticism of Zionism. (link to article) ADL has been similarly rebuffed in the United States. This means scores of videos critical of Zionism and homosexuality, including my four, still bring light via the internet into encroaching darkness.2. Many teens using the internet are victims of online bullies. ADL wants to create a false mental link between "cyber-bullying" and hate speech. Through its new program against online bullying, ADL feigns compassion for these young people. What ADL really wants is to link cyber-bullying with cyberhate and gain power to advise government on “protecting” vulnerable teens from criticism of Israel, Jewish control of media or the accuracy of the six-million figure of Holocaust dead.
3. Through privatizing the internet, cable and phone companies sympathetic to ADL may be able to discriminate against, and ultimately help eliminate, “hate sites.” These companies include Verizon and Comcast, headed respectively by ADL/Zionist sympathizers Ivan Seidenburg and Brian Roberts. Jewish recipients of ADL/Wiesenthal "tolerance” awards, they could provide a form of censorship without legislation. (See, Threats to a Free Internet).
4. ADL wants to re-define internet free speech as "home-grown terrorism." Already, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1955, designed to set up a federal commission to "eradicate" the "cyber-terrorism" which this bill alleges “streams” from the internet. This primarily alludes to anti-Zionist alternative internet talk radio. The federal commission, if approved by the Senate and the President, will construe politically incorrect speech on the internet as words that hurt, i.e., "verbal violence.” H.R. 1955 says this speech incites extremists to "radicalization," i.e., acts of violence. Ultimately, as in Canada, such expression, in order to be prosecuted, need only be thought "likely" to cause intimidation of members of federally protected groups. (See, In Search of 'Homegrown Terrorists')
5. ADL also considers massive propaganda against critics of Israel or homosexuality as a weapon against “cyberhate.” Some ADL cyber-experts, such as Christopher Wolf, head of INACH (ADL's worldwide "Institute against Cyberhate"), believe education against homophobia and anti-Semitism is the best solution. We should remember that, as we are seeing in Canada, it is not skinheads and Nazis whom the ADL really deplores; it is evangelical Christians. ADL has already smeared Traditional Values Coalition as hateful and implies that other new right websites, such as Focus on the Family and Family Research Council, which "portray gays and lesbians as subhuman in the guise of promoting so-called 'family values' …” should be removed from the internet.
In Canada, ADL/B'nai B'rith persuaded Parliament to pass their hate bill in 1971. It was a small matter a few years later, with arrival of the internet, to also pass Section 13.1, extending it to internet control. The same will happen here if the hate bill becomes law.
Ray of Hope
Endnotes:
1. CRHT Decision: Warman vs. Beaumont, October 26, 2007, Para.68, cited in “Free Speech Monitor” from Canadian Association for Free Expression Inc., http://café.canadafirst.net, PH: (905) 274-3868