It is stated in the First Amendment of the American Constitution that the Congress shall give the public the freedom and protection to speech, to express themselves and even given the right to petition. It safeguards the public speech and the government cannot arrest a person for speaking out his or her mind, as the founding fathers of the nation had believed that the freedom of speech or of the press is fundamental to democracy. Hate speech is covered under such freedom, and it still must be protected for it is how an individual’s perspective can be converted into the power of the public and be able to express and fight for their rights (Kahn 572). [1] Having restrictions on hate speech means that the citizen’s democratic rights are being restricted, and such restriction cannot be accepted in a democratic country.
Hate speech should not be banned, but there are at least three dimensions to regulate it. One is considering the object of hate, as the legislation includes only specific types of offenses considered, like racism that could be punishable if it amount to unlawful discrimination. Another is the nature of harm, as hate speech can lead to harm that goes beyond hurtful emotions and can manipulate a certain individual or group to provoke them into abusive actions or violence, which also relates to the last dimension which are checks against abuse (George). [2]
A slippery slope in banning hate speech is how putting restrictions in the most hurtful hate speech can lead to unacceptable banning on speech itself that should be protected, since there is no specific between kinds of speech (Brison 5). [3] Hate speech itself is considered not problematic and people would not defend themselves properly if they do not have the freedom to express.
The freedom of speech has been the most powerful weapon of the public with their equal rights, and censorship is the strongest counter to such weapon (Strossen 465). [4] The government could easily control the people that may lead to abusive power if it becomes out of hand, thus ripping the rights of the people from their hands.
Works Cited
[1] Kahn, Robert A. WHY DO EUROPEANS BAN HATE SPEECH? A DEBATE BETWEEN KARL LOEWENSTEIN AND ROBERT POST. 2013.
[2] George, Cherian. Hate Speech Law and Policy. Wiley Online Library, 2014.
[3] Brison, Susan. Hate Speech.
[4] Strossen, Nadine. Hate Speech and P Hate Speech and Pornography: Do We Have to Choose between Freedom of Speech and Equality? CASE WESTERN RESERVE University, 1996.
Part of the problem, too, is determining what is and is not hate speech. For example, did JK Rowling commit hate speech when she wrote an essay about how she feels pushing so many children on cross-sex hormones and surgeries could easily come back to bite us in the butt? I would argue no, that's a reasonable question to ask. However, others deemed it as hate speech.