European police in coordinated raids against online hate speech

Re:European police in coordinated raids against online hate ... by RcouF1uZ4gsC on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @12:03PM (#24981467)

This raid and the killing of the teacher in France because he showed insulting cartoons, both come from the same principle: There is speech so offensive that merely communicating that speech is cause for opposing that speech with physical violence.

It seems Europe embraces that principle. I am glad that the United States on the whole rejects that principle in favor a more broad embrace of free speech.

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Re:European police in coordinated raids against online hate ... by Udik on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @12:19PM (#24981647)

Note that in France last year someone was sentenced to a year in jail for publishing this cartoon:

https://besttv232-ynet-images1-prod.cdn.it.best-tv.com/PicSe...

Then a few days ago Macron, referring to the killing of the teacher, said "I will always defend the freedom to speak, to write, to think and to draw". Cognitive dissonance.

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Re:European police in coordinated raids against online hate ... by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @12:21PM (#24981668)

I don't get it. I don't speak French, and I'm not in that culture. Can anyone explain what the offensiveness is?

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Re:European police in coordinated raids against online hate ... by mmm_grayons on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @12:53PM (#24982049)

I'm not French either, but it appears it was ruled to be Holocaust Denial. Apparently, that can warrant jail time in France.

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Re:European police in coordinated raids against online hate ... by mariusor on Wednesday November 04, 2020 @03:30AM (#24987300)

> Cognitive dissonance.

It might be just a different definition for what free speech covers. Holocaust denial and inciting to violence are two examples of what is not protected in most European countries.

Since I didn't know what the cartoon was about I did a bit of research, and the article I found shows that its author was sentenced for "questioning crimes against humanity" and "racial insult"[1] of which the cartoon seems to be just one example.

[1] https://qz.com/1595792/holocaust-denial-in-france-alain-sora...

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Re:European police in coordinated raids against online hate ... by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @12:20PM (#24981660)

Well, the US is getting to the point where there are plenty of people who think that speech is cause for opposing that speech with violence. The difference is that it's their violence, not (usually) official police violence.

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