The Canadian editorialist most in tune with the anti-hate speech philosophy of the Southern Poverty Law Center is Stephen Hume. In a recent column of his (8/10/11) in the Vancouver Sun newspaper entitled “Modern hate groups run ‘silent and deep’” Hume reviles haters who target “Jews, Muslims, Roman Catholics, progressive Protestants, visible minorities, big government, big business, big unions, immigrants, first nations and so on.” Sloppy, sloppy. Who are the so on’s? Inquiring minds want to know. What about “extremists,” his favorite word for all evil people, who hate Nazis, Communists, murderers, rapists and muggers? What about if you hate hate? Are you then an extremist hater? Suppose someone just sits there, hating all of these groups, seething at them, but takes no action against them, none whatsoever; he merely engages in his free speech rights in this regard. Does he still qualify as an extremist hater who should be removed from polite society? In Canada, this is not a rhetorical question. There are so called Human Rights Tribunals who actually harass such people.

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