[Restorer]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights."

Our 1st Amendment did not give us freedom of speech. It merely recognized a pre-existing and inalienable right that is the birthright of all humans. Even Croats.

I could not care less whether the Croatian Constitution or that of any other European country does not recognize the right to freedom of speech. It exists anyway.

I recognize the power of certain countries to pass laws that punish speech they find offensive or to "prohibit inciting racial or religious hatred, or any form or intolerance." That doesn't mean they have the right to do so.

I am not sophistic in the least. My position is that of a believer in American values, not Croatian or EU ones. I realize his speech was illegal in Croatia. I just believe that the Croatian Constitution is wrong in this case.

I would not support any attempt to change their laws by force. But I also will not stand by and refuse to denounce laws that I believe, in common with the American tradition, are morally invalid.

BTW, I also recognize why, due to Croatian history, such laws are more tempting there than here. But that doesn't change their morality.

[kosta50]

I respect your views, but I do not believe in a creator. The only thing that is self-evident is that, regardless of how the universe came about, we were not its central project; rather an incidental, if not accidental, occurrence. We could turn into stardust tomorrow and the universe would not blink. We see this every day -- that is if you look outside the box.

The only right in nature is power. That holds true for animate as well as inanimate objects. We can surgacoat anything, but without power all the talk about justice and rights is meaningless.

Societies curtail all sorts of freedoms. Our own society deprives convicts even of life -- an inalienable right according to our own Delcaration of Indpenednece. How can we reconicile our conviction that life and liberty are divine human assets, and support a death penalty, is beyond me. Our delcaration of such immutable rights also did not find slavery incompatible with the new Republic either.

Our society curtails speech that contains “fighting words,” various types of “defamation or “libel” etc., but the fact is we do in some ways curtail speech when it is deepend to be likely to lead to violence or in some ways injures or causes to worry (i.e. harrassment) individuals or groups. Again, these are arbitrary decisions based on our value system and priorities.

Croatian constitution is based on the concensus of its legilators that inciting intolerance against religious or ethnic groups is potentially explosive and dangerous and needs to be curtailed. It considers such behavior abusive. This is no more “immoral” than our own exemptions of “unprotected speech.”