Canadian chill on free speech

Re: 'Vile' Hate Messages Land Ontario Man In Jail, July 14.

I experienced waves of apprehensive chills when I read that our Federal Court has incarcerated Tomasz Winnicki for nine months for refusing to cease his "vile and unrelenting message of hatred." In essence, he was jailed for use of words. Punishment is well known to produce pervasive and insidious reluctance for the expression of behaviours other than those punished. This judgment by the Federal Court could also dampen the expression of novel ideas that might be unpopular now but may be beneficial for all of our futures.

In my opinion, the optimal response to extreme views is to require the ideas to be supported by data and reasoning within formal public forums of debate and discourse. The subsequent social ridicule for an argument that fails this test would no longer reward rather than directly punish the protagonists. That subtle difference between non-reward versus unishment is critical to maintain creativity and free thought.

Arguments that "hate statements" automatically lead to hate behaviours are based on correlations, not causations. Hate behaviours are reinforced by the group and are usually driven by social factors irrelevant to the statements. The goal is not to punish free speech, no matter how far-fetched or apparently extreme or hateful. The goal should be to establish policies and procedures that uncouple beliefs from behaviours.

Dr. M. A. Persinger, professor of behavioural neuroscience,