Is freedom of speech alive anywhere?

[WordWhiz]

A while ago, I posted a story about a man who is serving 5 years in jail in Germany for the simple act of expressing an unpopular opinion: namely, that the Holocaust did not occur. Canada and America were complicit in this denial of basic human rights.

In the original thread, some argued that this wasn't a big deal because Holocaust-denial laws were sui generis. I pointed out that this was not the case at all. Numerous countries in Europe either had or were contemplating laws prohibiting the expression of ideas that incited racial animosity, insulted particular racial groups, etc.

Looks like India is on the bandwagon as well: an Indian court is hearing testimony on whether Liz Hurley's wedding "insulted Hindu tradition," a crime under 295 A of the Indian Penal Code, which makes it an offence punishable by three years in jail to "outrage" any group's religion with "deliberate and malicious intention." (Story on yahoo)

The U.S. is fortunately still "behind the curve" on this issue, thank God. We still have relatively free speech here, but I wonder for how much longer. It appears to me that free speech is another crazy libertarian idea from last century that will gradually be whittled away in the name of fairness, equality, justice, social cooperation, etc.

I think that sometime in my lifetime, we'll see a world in which the 1st Amendment of the Constitution is as relevant as the whole thing about limited government and enumerated powers.