Thought-Crime in Belgium

On the same day that a university let a black-shirted mob shut down a campus debate in Britain, there was a news report out of Belgium about the first man convicted of sexism:

Belgian beer is excellent. Belgian law, not so much. (Photo by Alexander Mils instagram.com/alexandermils on Unsplash)

He was reported to have said she would be better off doing a job "adapted to women", in a scene witnessed by several other people.

The driver was found guilty of three charges: contempt of a police officer, making threats and sexist remarks in public, and a serious violation of another person's dignity because of her gender. [bold added]

As I noted of "hate crime" way back in '05:

Punishing someone for his beliefs in addition to his actual crime is, in fact, exactly the opposite of what the government should be doing. For example, if someone gets ten years for a crime and has two more added on because he is "guilty" of a "hate crime," he's being jailed two years for his ideas by the government.

No matter the merit or lack thereof of a person's ideas, simply giving voice to them (as opposed to, say committing libel or fraud, or issuing threats) harms no one, and should never be the basis for criminal prosecution. This dangerous precedent should be cause for alarm, rather than marked as "a first" as it apparently is there.

-- CAV