NeoNazis And Free Speech
Neo-Nazi's are entitled to the same First Amendment rights under the Constitution as all other American citizens. Simply because a group expresses beliefs which are unpopular and generally considered to be "wrong" does not mean that the group is no longer entitled to free speech. When people are given true freedom of speech, it should be understood that there are always going to be differences in opinions, and that the opinions held by some people will almost invariably be seen as offensive to at least some other people. If the government were to try and censor everything that anyone felt was offensive, then eventually no one would be able to voice their opinion on anything anymore, and the problem with censoring Neo-Nazis and other extreme racist groups is that it opens the door to just this sort of thing. What's more, no one is being forced to listen to anything that the Neo-Nazi's have to say, so the argument that they are causing people irreparable "mental anguish" is just plain invalid because anyone who doesn't agree with what they have to say can just walk away. The people who think that the Neo-Nazi's should be censored simply because their ideas are hurtful to other people need to grow up and real
ize that words are just words. Although words can be hurtful at times, if someone says something that people find offensive, then they can just not listen, rather than crying to the government and asking it to hold their hands and protect them from the world. Also, by trying to take legal action to get Neo-Nazis censored, people are inadvertently helping the Neo-Nazi cause, because many more people will get exposed to Neo-Nazi ideas through the press that this generates than would be exposed if people decided to let them have their rallies and ignore what they have to say. Also, although the Neo-Nazi philosophy may advocate violence and lead to an increased number of hate crimes, this is not a reason to revoke their First Amendment rights either. I believe that although most Neo-Nazis are uneducated racists, the truly violent Neo-Nazis make up only a small extremist fringe within the overall group. Besides this point, stopping the open public expression of Neo-Nazi ideas will not stop the crimes. This is because the crimes are a result of Neo-Nazi ideas, and not a result of the fact that these ideas can be openly expressed. The ideas will continue to exist even if the public expression of them is banned, and because of this, the hate crimes will continue to be an issue, even if Neo-Nazis are denied the right to publicly state their beliefs. Also, if a Neo-Nazi rally becomes a riot because of spectators who heckle and harass the Neo-Nazis, then the riot is just as muc
Some common words found in the essay are:
Constitution American, United America, Censoring Neo-Nazi, , neo-nazi ideas, Neo-Nazis Amendment, amendment rights, Bibliography None, hate crimes, words words, beliefs people, free speech, public expression, unpopular beliefs,
Approximate Word count = 1006
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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