Free Speech VS. Hate Speech
Most Americans would like to think that the United States is a place open to diversity with room for everyone. The fact is, hate is a huge block to this vision, and the atrocities of Mathew Shepard and James Byrd grow by the day increasing the search for a remedy. We used to be able to ignore people who spoke of hate because they wore white hoods and had meetings in secluded places. Now, people like Eminen and John Rocker can speak hate over the television, radio, and especially the Internet (Goldstein, 2000). This new form of hate speech has caused much debate and controversy because every where a person looks some form of hate is being spoken. Some institutions have tried to curb hate speech by instituting speech codes, which try to eliminate hate speech. However, these speech codes have been confronted by much debate. Whether or not people need to be censored is a question asked by many in the debate between The First Amendment, which guarantees Civil liberties, and The Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees Civil rights. Civil rights vs. Civil liberties. In short, is hate speech protected under the rights and liberties of the constitution. Hate Speech is a very troubling matter for those w
two were successful in creating a severe censorship law in Canada, but the law backfired when the people who received punishment were prominent homosexual authors ,known for their hate and pornography, including Andrea Dworkin ( Owen, 1998). maintain the constitution. Many have tried to define hate speech as that which offends, threatens, or insults groups based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or a number of other traits (McMasters, 1999). However, what might be easy to define for scholarly or general discourse would simply not be adequate enough to put into law. McMasters (1999), gives several reasons why hate speech is so hard to define. Some would like to thinks so, and some would also say no. Yes is most hate speech, stupidity and bigotry? Of course, but when we silence people like Eminem and John Rocker or students at a university for using words that offend or cause people to be wounded, we take away their right to be free and live in a place where it is their right and freedom to say whatever they want. Is it O.K. morally, to offend, or use abusive language against someone? No, it is not. But, it is a persons right and freedom because they live in the U.S. of A. Censorship is not the answer because it normally backfires and censors the people that were not meant to be censored. This is where people stand up for their fellow citizens and impossible, substituting force for reason; because suppression promotes inflexibility and stultification , preventing society from adjusting to changing circumstances developing new ideas; and because suppression conceals the real problems confronting a society, diverting public attention from the critical issues..... In order to get a grasp on hate speech, one must take a close look at Free Speech. In order to do this it is important to know the policies and objectives of
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Approximate Word count = 2117
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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