Should hate-speech be allowed or banned?

Question

Some argue that hate-speech is covered in freedom of speech. But is it right?

I have no problem with opinions mind you, or saying the opinions, like if you don't like black people or their culture, or gay people, or Asian folk, etc etc. I'm talking about hate-speech, the verbal pollution, the disrespectful speech where you talk of eradicating the people, or their rights.

Is it right in our cultures to defend their right to say anything, including degrading remarks? What about remarks that encourage oppression, or death?

Does it make life worse, or better? Is it good or bad?

Should they be free to say it, or should it be banned?

Answer 1

I believe freedom of speech does cover degrading remarks. The only limitation is incitement to violence. If someone is hurling racial slurs at say a "white pride" meeting trying to spur the listeners on to go beat up minorities or start a riot, that is not (and should not be) protected speech. It's a thin line but one that ought to be observed.

I would rather live in a nation with too much free speech than too little.

"I disagree with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."
Voltaire

Answer 2

It should certainly NOT be "banned." Hate speech is now and always has been a self-policing situation. In other words, you wont find many KKK marches scheduled to take place in Harlem; the radical Black Muslim movement doesn't have any offices in Palm Beach; your average neo-Nazi wouldn't last five minutes in a Synagogue and any "my way or Hell awaits" Christian Fundamentalist would be laughed out of the highly educated metropolitan centers.

People who speak "hate" are cowards and usually preach to their own choir. The fact that the rest of us are subject to it via the media, including the Internet, is the price of admission to the wired-world...

and we can always change the channel.

Answer 3

We ban obscenity on public airwaves, yahoo answers, and polite society because many people find it offensive. I see no more harm to freedom of speech if derogatory terms referring to groups of people are also baned because it is posible to express your ideas without using such terms.. Beyond that point I think the criteria should be whether you are inciting people to action. "You have the right to shout FIRE, but not in a crowded theater."

Answer 4

Hate speech should be banned and anyone who uses it should be shot.

It is one thing like you said to state your opinion, it is another to degrade a person just because you are a jack As*

Answer 5

should be allowed. Some people have a right to rant.