[Irishsteve]

The bill has a section describing interpretations and application. I think the area the news story is referring too is: 'Offence of incitement to violence or hatred against persons on account of their protected characteristics'

The news company reporting the article is from Florida as far as I can see. There are pretty different laws between USA and Ireland. I'd sum the main differences up as you can't just go and say what you want if its not true, or discriminative in most countries in Europe.

[dun44]

Sure you can, as long as you’re not harming anyone.

The difference is that it is much harder to make a living out of it. It’s the industry of hate that’s being targeted here.

[the_third_wave]

> as long as you’re not harming anyone

...and that is where the problem lies, in the definition of the concept 'harm'. Sticks and stones do physical harm and as such are easily covered by relevant laws. As to whether words do harm the opinions vary from '...but words can never harm me' to the proponents of a trigger-warning safe space culture where everybody has her own truth. Sometimes words can lead to physical harm - call someone a Jew in the midst of one of the raging pro-Hamas protests, say that someone did something to a koran in rural Pakistan - but other times they just make people feel bad/left out/misunderstood/etc.

It is quite common to call those who do not align to the doctrines of the 'progressive left' for 'nazi', 'extreme right', 'alt-right', 'fascist' and more such epitets. Does this count as 'harming' those people and if so should it be punishable? If not, why not?

[houseatrielah]

The Irish aren't allowed to protest dispossession of their ancestral lands because they're "too white". Sad situation.

[dun44]

Calling someone a Jew in the middle of protests against Israeli war crimes might indeed be harmful by inciting violence. Posting a random meme usually won’t. It’s not that hard to tell the difference.

Unless you also can’t tell the difference between “being not aligned” and actively inducing hatred against minorities, ie being a nazi. But that’s dementia, not ethics.

[unconed]

The only "industry of hate" I see is the so-called "disinformation" circuit that has popped up since COVID. It's given the censors yet another excuse to disguise their intolerance and neuroticism as something good.

Though I suppose calling something an "industry" when it produces nothing of value and subsists entirely on hand-outs and subsidies is pushing it.

[dun44]

Industry doesn't need to produce anything of value - it needs to produce money. And there are many examples of successful business selling hate, eg extremist media.

[unconed]

You missed the part about handouts and subsidies.

Like the subsidized state media that told everyone to hate the unvaccinated and exclude them from polite society, which still, somehow, thinks of itself as antifascist.