I didn’t – and wouldn’t – say they were the same thing. I was only countering Bob’s argument that “being detained because of wearing a T-shirt” is by itself proof of the dictatorial nature of a state.

By the way, it’s also a crime in many European countries to wear a T-shirt saying “KZ gas chambers are a myth!” Of course you could argue that this is still “offensive” to all the Nazi victims, but then you must accept that the “disaster” statement may be considered politically offensive as well.

The fact that it comes from a CCP publication doesn’t matter, since it’s obviously quoted out of context – you can find many offensive and even vulgar words and phrases in the Bible, too.

I’m going to design a T-shirt with one Chinese word, “豆腐”, and wear it on one of those earthquake tourism tours next year on the second anniversary of the Sichuan quake. If the local police hassle me, I’ll just tell them that I love tofu! “我爱吃豆腐：麻婆豆腐， 红烧豆腐，… 日本豆腐！”

Protecting Jews from insults is not at all the same thing.

The extreme sanctity of the freedom of expression that exist in the US doesn’t exist in Europe. Various categories of expression are considered unlawful – which obviously doesn’t hurt Europe’s prestige as exemplary democracies at all.