The law in this case criminalizes stirring up hate (at least, that is what “hate speech” laws generally do, and you have not seen fit to clarify what specific laws you have in mind).
Your analogy would be valid if there were laws against objecting to immigration and they were being used to prosecute someone who is stirring up hatred. That is not the case.
Rather, it’s as if there were a law against theft, and they were used to prosecute people who were breathing, and you said “look, people are getting prosecuted for breathing”. If the anti-theft laws were broadly enough drafted, or being applied in an unprincipled enough way, you might have a case, but the onus would very much be on you to show that that was what was happening, because prima facie there’s a law against theft and it’s being used to prosecute a thief. (In this case: prima facie there are laws against stirring up hatred and they’re being used to prosecute people who are stirring up hatred.)
I was initially going to reply to Jiro’s last comment to me, but you grasped the nettle so firmly that I think I’d be just superfluous here, so I just wanted to say I almost completely agree with everything you write and that it’s awesome you put in so much effort.
The law in this case criminalizes stirring up hate (at least, that is what “hate speech” laws generally do, and you have not seen fit to clarify what specific laws you have in mind).
Your analogy would be valid if there were laws against objecting to immigration and they were being used to prosecute someone who is stirring up hatred. That is not the case.
Rather, it’s as if there were a law against theft, and they were used to prosecute people who were breathing, and you said “look, people are getting prosecuted for breathing”. If the anti-theft laws were broadly enough drafted, or being applied in an unprincipled enough way, you might have a case, but the onus would very much be on you to show that that was what was happening, because prima facie there’s a law against theft and it’s being used to prosecute a thief. (In this case: prima facie there are laws against stirring up hatred and they’re being used to prosecute people who are stirring up hatred.)
I was initially going to reply to Jiro’s last comment to me, but you grasped the nettle so firmly that I think I’d be just superfluous here, so I just wanted to say I almost completely agree with everything you write and that it’s awesome you put in so much effort.
Thank you for the kind words!
It seems that Jiro has lost interest, though.