Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave

"The problem with so-called hate speech laws is that they’re not about facts. They’re about feelings. What we’re learning here is really the bedrock difference between the United States and the countries that are in a broad sense its legal cousins. Western governments are becoming increasingly comfortable with the regulation of opinion. The First Amendment really does distinguish the U.S., not just from Canada but from the rest of the Western world.”

-- Mark Steyn, author of a Maclean’s article, “The Future Belongs to Islam,” which has sparked a controversy in Canada [underlined emphasis TMR's]

“Canadians do not have a cast-iron stomach for offensive speech. We don’t subscribe to a marketplace of ideas. Americans as a whole are more tough-minded and more prepared for verbal combat."

-- From Jason Gratl, a lawyer for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association