# Hate speech laws cover up the truth **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 17, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-laws-cover-up-the-truth/712886 "2015-02-17T04:36:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 7
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-laws-cover-up-the-truth/712886/7 "2015-02-17T06:04:54Z")
Of course, the [Swedish commission that examined those numbers](http://www.bra.se/bra/bra-in-english/home/news-from-bra/archive/news/2011-01-18-how-common-is-rape-in-sweden-compared-to-other-european-countries.html) pointed out that Sweden has the most liberal definition of “rape,” (and other personal assault crimes), in the world. Before one joins your linked article in leaping to the conclusion that the addition of Muslims to Sweden has led to a staggering rise in rapes, one should first find out when the Swedes instituted their current definition of rape and then make sure that the rise is not due to new definitions rather than more events. Your link’s chart shows the spike beginning after 2000. Where are the numbers that show that the Middle Eastern or Muslim immigrant population rose at the same rate in the same years as the rise in rapes? This appears to be an example of the _post hoc ergo propter hoc_ fallacy. (And while the article tries to dismiss one aspect of the discussion: > [@](#): > > Rather than doing something about the problem of violence and rape, Swedish politicians, public authorities and media do their best to explain away the facts. Here are some of their explanations: > > Swedes have become more prone to report crime. > The law has been changed so that more sexual offences are now classed as rape. > Swedish men cannot handle increased equality between the sexes and react with violence against women (perhaps the most fanciful excuse). > A long-held feminist myth is that the most dangerous place for a woman is her own home – that most rapes are committed by someone she knows. This claim was refuted by Brå’s report: > > “In 58% of cases, the perpetrator was entirely unknown by the victim. In 29% of cases the perpetrator was an acquaintance, and in 13% of cases the perpetrator was a person close to the victim.” > > Brå reports that there are no major differences between women of Swedish and foreign background when it comes to the risk of being raped. Significantly, the report does not touch on the background of the rapists. They are quite possibly engaged in swapping goalposts. I suspect that, given the close cultural ties, [this article examining Norway’s reporting of rape in the home](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/world/europe/in-norway-gender-equality-does-not-extend-to-the-bedroom.html?pagewanted=all) would have a strong bearing on how it is reported in Sweden, as well. There very well may be an issue regarding rapes and immigrants. However, the clearly sensationalist report to which you have linked, with its cherry-picked numbers and its clever failure to support several of its assertions if they seem too far out, does not appear to actually support your thesis in this thread. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-laws-cover-up-the-truth/712886)._