[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 24, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INSULT SPEECH IS A CRIME IN THE NETHERLANDS

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in the Netherlands, it's against the 
law now to hurt somebody's feelings. Don't dare offend anyone or the 
speech police will cart you off to the courthouse and try you for the 
violation of the insensitivity laws.
  Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders made a documentary movie of real 
terrorist acts, real radical Islamic clerics encouraging violence in 
the name of hate; now, Wilders is on trial for insulting Islam. He is 
charged with discrimination and incitement to hatred.
  The Dutch Ministry of Justice has stated, ``It is irrelevant whether 
Wilders might prove his observations to be correct. What's relevant is 
his observations are illegal.''
  In Amsterdam, truthful insult speech is a crime. What kind of free 
society says truthful speech can be illegal?
  Freedom of speech is a universal human right granted by God, 
especially if the speech is political or religious or truthful. All who 
believe in the human right of free speech should be offended and 
insulted by the insensitive words of the Amsterdam courts.
  And that's just the way it is.

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