Free Speech Under Assault from the Halls of the University of Missouri to the Shores of Gay Paris

By John Friend —

The increasingly tyrannical nature of “hate speech” legislation and political correctness as well as the manner in which they are enforced has been highlighted by recent events in the United States and abroad in the West.

On October 30, police in Eugene, Oregon arrested and charged Damien Leon Ramirez, a 23-year-old student at the University of Oregon (UO), with intimidation after he reportedly hurled “anti-Semitic” slurs at members of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), an international Jewish fraternity with a chapter on the Ducks’ campus.

Robin Holmes, vice president of student life at UO, condemned the so-called “hate crime” committed by Ramirez.

“The University of Oregon community is deeply disturbed by the crimes alleged to have been committed against AEP,” Miss Holmes was quoted as stating according to recent reports. “We do not tolerate hate crimes or threats founded in bias against any individuals or groups.”

Miss Holmes went on to praise Eugene police for arresting and charging Ramirez, and noted the UO president has intervened in the case, expressing “his concern and support for the fraternity.”

Miss Holmes’s statement concluded: “At UO, we are committed to diversity and creating a welcoming, supportive, and respectful community. We are grateful to the Eugene Police Department for their swift action related to the October 30 incident. In cases like this, student conduct procedures may also be initiated. . . . The university will continue to work with AEP to ensure that they have the resources and support needed to feel safe as a part of our campus community.”

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In truth, though, what really happened was hardly worth a major incident.

Given the current atmosphere of modern American college campuses, Ramirez had likely been drinking and a confrontation between himself and members of the Jewish fraternity ensued.

As a direct result of political correctness and cultural Marxism, tyrannical ideologies institutionalized via mass media and mainstream academia in the West today, making mean or derogatory statements about non-whites, especially blacks and Jews, is now considered a crime in America.

“If every stupid, drunken college student who called another college student a nasty name were arrested, our jails would fill and our colleges and universities would empty,” Dr. Kevin Barrett of TruthJihad.com explained to AMERICAN FREE PRESS in a recent interview. “I’m not in favor of drinking, stupidity, or name-calling, but I am in favor of common sense, and what we’re seeing in Oregon is not common sense.”

This reporter also spoke with Dr. Kevin B. MacDonald, editor of The Occidental Quarterly, a scholarly publication focusing on white identity and political interests.

“I abhor the ever-increasing penalties for expressing thoughts,” MacDonald told AFP. “In the U.S., as seen in the University of Oregon incident, universities, including public universities that should be held to First Amendment standards, routinely penalize students for certain types of speech. In other cases, people can lose their jobs for stating their beliefs. In Europe, it’s far worse, with individuals subject to legal sanctions, including fines and imprisonment.”

MacDonald was referring to the recent case of the colorful and politically incorrect French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who has performed a variety “anti-Semitic” comedic skits and performances to large French audiences. In many of his more controversial performances, Dieudonné mocks the Jewish fixation on the alleged “Holocaust” narrative of WWII, which objective scientists, scholars, historians, and other professionals have systematically debunked and exposed as one of modern history’s greatest deceptions.

In 2009, Dieudonné was convicted by a French court for “hate crimes,” resulting in a €10,000 ($10,750) fine. The French comedian challenged the ruling at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), located in Strasbourg, France, which “rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights,” according to its official website.

On November 10, the ECtHR ruled against him, arguing “that laws on freedom of expression did not offer protection for anti-Semitic comments or statements denying the Holocaust,” The New York Times recently reported.

The organized Jewish community, led by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in the U.S., unsurprisingly praised the ECtHR decision. “Dieudonné is a recidivist anti-Semite who appeals to anti-Jewish prejudices for laughs. He mocks Holocaust survivors, invented an anti-Semitic salute, and has called for authorities to free the leader of the gang that murdered Ilan Halimi,” stated Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, shortly after the Court’s decision. “While hate speech is constitutionally protected in the U.S., and properly so, we understand and respect the different legal regimes in European democracies. Dieudonné’s conduct clearly violated French law, and he should pay the consequences.”

Dr. Barrett found the prosecution of Dieudonné particularly disturbing.

“Common sense suggests that Jews, the richest and most powerful per-capita ethnic group in America, have profited mightily by playing the victimology card,” Dr. Barrett noted. “Billions in ‘Holocaust’ reparations from Germany, trillions looted from America and sent to support genocide in Occupied Palestine, and if anyone tells the truth about this, as Dieudonné has, they’re liable to be arrested for ‘hate speech.’”

Dr. MacDonald is skeptical of the ADL’s commitment to free speech in America.

“Despite the ADL’s statement that they believe the First Amendment is a fixture of American law, they have done all they can to enact laws on ‘hate speech,’ ” MacDonald pointed out. “In fact, they would love to have the First Amendment gutted by rulings of the Supreme Court.”

The ADL was one of the most ardent supporters of the “Hate Crimes Prevention Bill,” which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2009. The bill is also known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and received overwhelming support from the organized Jewish community as well as other minority lobbying organizations. The bill is an absolute affront to the First Amendment and free speech in America.

John Friend is a California-based writer who maintains a blog.