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Just what constitutes so-called "hate speech" is extremely subjective, which allows the state to pick and choose who to criminalize. Observe what's going on in Bernie's and Noam Chomsky's favorite country:
The political left has always been extremely hostile to free speech. Hate speech laws are a progressive wet dream because any sort of criticism can be classified as "hate speech".
SPECIAL REPORT-Venezuela wields a powerful "hate" law to silence Maduro's remaining foes
VENEZUELA-POLITICS/HATELAW (SPECIAL REPORT, PIX):SPECIAL REPORT-Venezuela wields a powerful "hate" law to silence Maduro's remaining foes
news.trust.org
SAN JOSE DE GUANIPA, Venezuela, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Francisco Belisario, a Venezuelan mayor, retired general and member of the ruling Socialist party, had enough. His loudest local critic had accused him of bungling the response to the coronavirus outbreak and other big problems.
In August, he wrote a state prosecutor and requested an "exhaustive investigation" of his nemesis, Giovanni Urbaneja, a former lawmaker who had become a gadfly to the mayor and other Socialist officeholders. Urbaneja, Belisario wrote in a letter reviewed by Reuters, was conducting a "ferocious smear campaign" on Facebook and elsewhere.
Urbaneja not only defamed him and President Nicolas Maduro, the mayor wrote. He violated Venezuela's Law Against Hate. The law, passed in 2017 but rarely used before this year, criminalizes actions that "incite hatred" against a person or group.
Charge Urbaneja with hate crimes, the mayor implored the prosecutor.
Days later, several dozen masked officers raided Urbaneja's home and took him at gunpoint for "a chat," according to the police report of his arrest and Urbaneja's wife. Urbaneja remains jailed, awaiting formal charges and a trial.
...
It was an increasingly common maneuver: In a review of more than 40 recent hate-law arrests, Reuters found that in each case, authorities intervened against Venezuelans who had criticized Maduro, other ruling party officials or their allies.
The political left has always been extremely hostile to free speech. Hate speech laws are a progressive wet dream because any sort of criticism can be classified as "hate speech".