European hate groups
Topics: Welfare, Subsidy, FreeSpeech
16 Nov 1994
From: "DG Ervan Darnell"
According to AP (11/16/94 Chronicle), e-mail has apparently been a
facilitating factor in the spread of hate groups in Europe. The report was
prepared by the European Jewish Congress, so make of that whatever you will.
E-mail matters because it can be used to "bypass police monitors and
government restrictions".
The report goes on to say that such groups "threaten the civil and
constitutional rights of certain minorities". Wait. The government is
trying to deny free speech, private consensual speech nonetheless, not
public or commercial, and it is the victims of the censorship who are
destroying civil rights? I'm quite pleased that the U.S. has done a far
better, though not perfect, job of letting people say whatever they want, no
matter how vile. I think the evidence is that an environment of open debate
does not help such groups.
But the really interesting thing, which has relevance for immigration and AA
here, was the following comment: "such groups have flourished because of
[...] an influx of immigrants straining existing social welfare systems."
In other words, the government is stealing money from one group to give it
to another group who has done nothing to earn it and was in no way
victimized by the people paying the tax. Now, much to everyone's dismay,
taxpayers are unhappy about this. Can you imagine such a thing? Of course,
the hate groups have missed the point. It's not the fault of the
immigrants, nor is race really relevant (other than an unfortunately
convenient peg to hang hate on), it is the fault of government for engaging
in redistribution. The error runs so deep that the usual "solution" as
proposed by hate groups is merely to reverse the direction of exploitation.
That will not solve the problem either.
As a parting shot, this does not say much for the vaunted European education
system that presumably teaches tolerance. Actually, it doesn't say much for
using the schools to 'teach' morality.
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