Tag Archives for free speech

State Threatens to Shut Down Nutrition Blogger

Nutrition board says he needs a license to advocate dietary approaches.  (Hat tip: Ray Sawhill)

The North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition is threatening to send a blogger to jail for recounting publicly his battle against diabetes and encouraging others to follow his lifestyle.

Chapter 90, Article 25 of the North Carolina General Statutes makes it a misdemeanor to “practice dietetics or nutrition” without a license. According to the law, “practicing” nutrition includes “assessing the nutritional needs of individuals and groups” and “providing nutrition counseling.”

Steve Cooksey has learned that the definition, at least in the eyes of the state board, is expansive.

I’ll say.

But get this:

It’s a fine line between what’s legal and what’s not when it comes to talking about nutrition.

“Anyone can talk about anything they want,” Burill said. “That’s a First Amendment right, so to speak.”

For example, a person could write a blog advocating vegetarianism, she said.

“Now if you advertised that you’d taken classes in nutrition, you’ve worked at [the federal government’s Food and Nutrition Service] for three years, and you say ‘I believe everyone should be a vegetarian, and I’m here to help you if you want to change your diet’ [that could be crossing the line],” Burill said.

“A vegetarian diet would be a little bit harder [to prosecute] because a vegetarian is not really like a medical diet.”

Revealing…  Figures they don’t mind people promoting vegetarianism, but anyone encouraging low-carb and protein-rich diets is more likely to get harassed, like this blogger…

If free speech no longer exists…

… I think we can do more than this (Telegraph):

Liam Stacey, a student who mocked footballer Fabrice Muamba on Twitter after he collapsed during a match, was jailed today for inciting racial hatred.

Last week he admitted inciting racial hatred when he appeared briefly at Swansea Magistrates’ Court and today he was jailed for 56 days at the same court.
The first of Stacey’s messages began with ”LOL (laugh out loud). **** Muamba. He’s dead!!!”

Moments earlier, District Judge John Charles told him: “In my view there is no alternative to an immediate prison sentence.”

He was sent to prison to “reflect the public outrage” at his comments. Now that it’s open season on anything unpleasant, I have a long list of people I’d like imprisoned.

‘Anti-Racists’ Also Anti-Free Speech

They shouted down a handful of White Pride demonstrators in Edmonton, but apparently would like to have done more:

As the groups neared City Hall, police kept the anti-racists from crossing the street and getting close to the white-pride rally, but both sides shouted insults at each other until the white pride group left.

Anti-racist demonstrators ran from entrance to entrance of the subway in an effort to follow the rally, and expressed their frustration at police who were blocking the doors.

“I think it’s a shame that our tax dollars are being used to coddle and protect racist hate groups in our city,” said one anti-racist demonstrator with a megaphone.

“Shame on police for coddling extremists. They should be ashamed of themselves,” he added.

As an aside, the term ‘anti-racist’ really irks me. I think it’s because the word ‘racism’ itself is not a very useful one. To declare yourself an ‘anti-racist’ is really to announce your obliviousness to a variety of social dynamics, and then (in effect) to announce your desire to ‘oppose’ those social dynamics. And that doesn’t even make any sense.