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Phil Robertson and Bill Maher Should Be Imprisoned for 'Hate Speech,' Human Rights Activist Says
The Christian Post ^ | March 19, 2015 | Napp Nazworth

Posted on 03/19/2015 3:31:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

A human rights activist and writer is dismayed that there are no laws that allow the imprisonment of those who state certain offensive positions, such as Bill Maher and Phil Robertson.

If the United States were a "civilized country" like those in Europe, Tanya Cohen wrote for Thought Catalog, then Robertson, a reality show star on A&E's "Duck Dynasty," "would have been taken before a government Human Rights Tribunal or Human Rights Commission and given a fine or prison sentence for the hateful and bigoted comments that he made about LGBT people."

Among the types of speech that should be punished, Cohen mentioned saying that Islamic terrorists are linked to Islam, saying gay marriage is not really marriage, and saying that men who want to be called women are really men.

Besides Robertson, Cohen named Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.

Comedian Bill Maher, a liberal atheist who has said that Muslims are more violent than Christians, was also listed. Maher incited the recent shooting of three Muslims, she charged. If there were laws against hate speech, Maher "would be held legally accountable for the shooting."

"When people like this are allowed to sway public opinion against the common good, it can have disastrous consequences," she wrote.

Comparing the United States again to other, mostly European nations that have more restrictions on speech, she wrote that "only in the U.S. is 'freedom of speech' so restrictive and repressive."

She then complained that there is no law in the United States that allows the banning of movies, book, video games, groups or political parties.

Nations that have a "more sensible approach to freedom of expression," Cohen argued, would allow "legitimate freedom of expression," but would ban a host of other voices, including "anti-vaxxers," "climate change deniers," "pick-up artists," and "harmful media." The song "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams should also be banned for encouraging rape.

The U.S. is "completely backwards" and "positively uncivilized" in its free speech protections, Cohen believes. Even "third world" countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are better at freedom of speech by banning certain types of speech, she added.

Americans are the only people on the planet who believe that freedom of speech protects offensive speech, Cohen insisted.

"There is absolutely nobody outside of the U.S. who thinks that there shouldn't be ANY laws against hate speech, racial vilification, or incitement to hatred. That idea is just unthinkable in a society where basic human rights exist. The U.S. has a dismal record on human rights, as indicated by the fact that it still doesn't have universal healthcare, still carries out executions, still hasn't banned firearms, and still tortures people, to name just a few things. But having NO laws against incitement to hatred? It's just impossible for people in civilized countries in the year 2015 to even conceive of such a thing," she wrote. (Emphasis in original.)

People outside the U.S. are "left in stunned disbelief and disgust," she continued, when they find out that it is considered "the land of the free" and a democracy, yet does not have a law banning hate speech. This claim, she added, is "not even an exaggeration," because, "hate speech laws have absolutely universal support from every single facet of society," outside of the U.S.

Freedom of speech, Cohen explained, should give people the right to criticize the government "in a civil, polite, and respectful manner," but should not give the "right to offend, to insult, to disrespect, to oppose human rights, to argue against the common good, to voice approval of totalitarian ideologies, to perpetuate toxic systems of privilege and oppression, to promote ideas which have no place in a modern democratic society, to be provocative or incendiary, or to express opinions which are unacceptable to the majority of people."

As a remedy, Cohen suggested passing laws banning hate speech and letting the United Nations prosecute American citizens who violate international hate speech laws.

On her Twitter account, Cohen describes herself as a "human rights activist and writer."

Thought Catalog describes its mission this way: "We want to support freedom of speech, empower writers and readers on their own terms, and make Thought Catalog an online magazine that represents the worldviews and rhetorical styles of as many people as possible."

The Christian Post contacted Thought Catalog and asked if Cohen's article was intended to be satirical but received no response by press time.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: billmaher; climatechange; duckdynasty; fascists; glennbeck; globalwarming; gulags; hannity; homofascism; homosexualagenda; islam; muslims; oreilly; palin; philrobertson; politicalpurge; politicalwitchhunt; tanyacohen
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To: Secret Agent Man

“There is ample historical and current evidence showing Maher is correct in saying what he did.”

==

And even if there was no evidence he still has the right to say it.

I guess this young lady’s schooling was a tad lacking.

.


21 posted on 03/19/2015 3:40:14 PM PDT by Mears (To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize."Voltaire))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The “Human Rights Activist” sounds like a Stalinist commie thug to me. But I remember these old dinosaurs and they need to be put down where ever found.


22 posted on 03/19/2015 3:40:39 PM PDT by MasterGunner01
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ah..., excuse me. Isn’t this diatribe hate speech?


23 posted on 03/19/2015 3:40:50 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (The question is Jeb Bush. The answer is NO!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hello Tanya? Have you heard of the First Amendment?

We have it! Those “civilized countries” in Europe don’t.


24 posted on 03/19/2015 3:41:14 PM PDT by jazusamo (0bama to go 'full-Mussolini' after elections: Mark Levin....and the turkey has.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’ve never met Tanya Cohen, yet I hate her as much as I hate Lord Obama.

Come and get me...


25 posted on 03/19/2015 3:41:15 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Advertising Space Available here.)
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To: DoughtyOne

Cohen’s, not this writer...


26 posted on 03/19/2015 3:41:24 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (The question is Jeb Bush. The answer is NO!)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

This is a truly scary person.. the epitome of the fascist mind and embodiment of Orwell’s warnings


27 posted on 03/19/2015 3:41:24 PM PDT by tophat9000 (An Eye for an Eye, a Word for a Word...nothing more)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Tanya” is such a perky revolutionary Communist moniker, no?


28 posted on 03/19/2015 3:42:03 PM PDT by Thumper1960 (A modern so-called "Conservative" is a shadow of a wisp of a vertebrate human being.)
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To: Rebelbase

If he was carrying a Dog Eared Bible wrapped in Duct Tape, it was Phil.


29 posted on 03/19/2015 3:43:07 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Advertising Space Available here.)
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To: tophat9000

Amen to that.


30 posted on 03/19/2015 3:44:13 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If you don’t support freedom of speech, then you are the diametric opposite of a “human rights advocate”.


31 posted on 03/19/2015 3:44:22 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

She dares to speak of “totalitarian ideologies”?


32 posted on 03/19/2015 3:44:29 PM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not A Matter of Opinion)
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To: PROCON

I always consider 100% of anything to be too much. Not as much as 100.1% of course, but moderation is the spice of life. I vastly prefer a little moderation in the extreme sense, but in varying amounts that may appear tiny in some small respects. I’m a fanatic about this.


33 posted on 03/19/2015 3:44:45 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
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To: Thumper1960

” “Tanya” is such a perky revolutionary Communist moniker, no?”

Yes


34 posted on 03/19/2015 3:45:37 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: shalom aleichem

Yeah, I loathe Bill Maher, but if they arrested him for his speech, I’d stand up and fight for him.


35 posted on 03/19/2015 3:45:53 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I have HATE Thoughts, every time one of these “human rights activist and writers open their YAPs.
36 posted on 03/19/2015 3:46:27 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: hoosierham

Can a woman be a douchebag?


37 posted on 03/19/2015 3:46:57 PM PDT by Walrus (I love the America that used to be ---I hate the America that now IS!)
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To: madprof98
In fact, if we were to believe the mainstream media, they are now the majority.

If the mainstream media wasn't constantly giving these nuts a soapbox, people would understand just how small a minority they actually are.

38 posted on 03/19/2015 3:47:20 PM PDT by JennysCool (My hypocrisy goes only so far)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So Tanya, everyone who has a different POV than you demonstrate, and shares such opinions, is participating in ‘hate speech’? Got it!

When you become absolute dictator, you can enact such laws. Until then, perhaps a number of visits to a proctologist may assist you in seeing the world as it is! In the mean time, SHADDUP and get a REAL JOB!


39 posted on 03/19/2015 3:48:16 PM PDT by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was blind, but now I see...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Tanya Cohen, a volunteer for delicate brain surgery to neutralize malfunctioning brain cells.


And, as they wheel her in, strapped tightly to a gurney, the doctor says, "Tanya, good to see you again. We will take the leftist totalitarian cells in your brain away which seem to be causing you so much trouble."
40 posted on 03/19/2015 3:48:32 PM PDT by BigEdLB (We're experienceing the rule of a Roman Emperor, Barack I)
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