What Is Hate Speech?
Every single American knows about the 1stamendment and freedom of speech. There is a lot of controversy today about how far that speech can go. College campuses use to be the bastion of free speech. However, if some group is offended in even the slightest it calls it hate speech. We cannot just have differences of opinion. Their position is “You have to believe in what I believe in or else what you say is hurtful.“ It is no wonder that many of the top comedians do not go on college campuses now because of the potential to “offend” some student(s).
Where did this transition from differing opinions change to hate? This was well before President Trump, he just encourages it. I am still astounded at what some people call hate speech. Jordan Peterson gets a ton of negative press and critiques. I listened to his speeches and debate performances and I may be missing something, but I do not hear the racism he is attacked for. Again, I may be wrong. There may be plenty he has written on or spoken on that I did not hear. His main argument is to take charge of your own life and not blame anyone else. However, he is accused of hate speech.
Now there are plenty of evil people who says things and support actions that truly test the limits of free speech. White nationalists and anarchists are two groups who make it hard to fully support the 1stamendment. I will say from my point of view that it is hate speech.
The challenge is there is no defined parameter when something crosses the line into hate speech. It is like Justice Potter Stewart on the Supreme Court who said he could not define pornography, but he would know it when he saw it.
We need to be extremely careful about preventing free speech. It is a cornerstone of our democracy. We need to be extremely ruthless when that speech turns into direct action that physically harms another person. Whining college students with hurt feelings are not a protected class who need to be sheltered from “hate” speech.
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