[keedot]

Christie Blatchford's skew is quite heavy in this reporting. I've seen the other side of the argument with some of the behaviours and tweets in question, and it's not so clear cut. I would definitely feel harassed by this individual, and in Canada, we do not claim to have the free speech as defined in America. Hate speech is not tolerated here, and most Canadians are in agreement with this. You can have a difference of opinion, but if you attack someone with words, there are legal consequences.

[lingben]

'hate speech' has a very high bar and from the court details there is zero evidence that the defendant engaged in anything remotely approaching harrassment, never mind hate speech.

by their own admission and by the evidence, the plaintiffs however did engage in a pattern of behavior and organized others into the same pattern which resulted in a person not only being harassed but also losing their job.

it is not enough to say, 'I feel harrassed' or 'I feel hurt' - that does not meet the legal test. You have no right not to be offended.

by the token of 'feelings', I could say that your response is 'hate speech' towards me and that I 'felt' harrassed and I 'felt' that my personal safety was in jeopardy.

If I were to claim that, I should rightfully be pointed in the direction of a mental health professional, not a court of law.

[keedot]

Right, which is why we have courts to determine the validity of the claims.

[lingben]

Sure, but some things are self evident and it makes no sense to waste public funds on them.

If you hurt my feelings, that's neither a criminal nor civil offense.

"Sticks and stones..." silly me, I thought we all learned this in elementary school

[keedot]

And yet teenagers still commit suicide because of online harassment. So words do hurt, and can even kill.

[oldmanjay]

Words may hurt. No one denied this. Saying words killed because of the actions a person took after being hurt is incredibly disingenuous. Only the person who took the action is responsible.

[keedot]

That's a fairly ignorant view on mental state and peer group pressures on developing adolescent minds.

[lingben]

I didn't say they don't. I said that 'hurt feelings' are not grounds for a criminal nor civil legal case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHMoDt3nSHs

[Pent]

>Hate speech is not tolerated here, and most Canadians are in agreement with this.

Please don't speak for the majority of Canadians. I am not in agreement with this and I speculate that many people living in Canada would object to it as well.

[EvenThisAcronym]

>...and in Canada, we do not claim to have free speech and defined in America. Hate speech is not tolerated here...

One of the worst aspects of our country IMO. I wish we had millions of people willing to defend the basic right to say what you want.

[danielweber]

> if you attack someone with words, there are legal consequences.

What a horrible country. I hate it deeply.

[keedot]

You're fully within your rights to do so. It's a pretty great place to live, to be honest.