Hate Speech Debate

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Britny Tisdale Hate speech should be included as freedom of speech – negative side. Leading Argument: Hate speech should be protected as free speech, because banning it can limit one’s freedom of speech. Banning hate speech or free speech is taking one’s opinion away. The Utilitarian’s would say that as long as it doesn’t harm somebody, then we should keep it. But isn’t it up to the person to decide what offends them? What offends one might not offend another. So do we take away everything that offends somebody? That is unrealistic to take away someone’s freedom of expression. Larry Flynt for example stated that “it is not freedom for the thought you love but freedom for the thought you hate most”. In other words he is stating that we have to tolerate some things that we don’t necessarily like. Banning hate speech can open doors for any kind of speech to be monitored, then that takes away freedom of speech, or our 1st Amendment rights. For example, in 2011, in Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court overturned a jury verdict against the Westboro Baptist Church because they picketed the funeral of a marine who died in Iraq. Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “We cannot react to [Snyder's] pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course--to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." Member Argument: Some say that hate speech could be one in the same as fighting words. There is a huge difference between the two. Fighting words are used to incite a reaction, whereas hate speech is communication that carries no meaning other than to express hatred for some group or person. An example of hate speech would be just to say you don’t like so and so, and as of fighting words would be to say you want to do harm to another person. There have been debates arguing that hate speech could eventually lead to

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