2 of 43

Yes

Write now Article Tools

The Constitution of the United States forces all those that would enjoy it's many freedoms and protections to not only tolerate hate speech but to fight and die for a person's right to engage in it's practice. Nowhere is it written that anyone has to listen to it or suffer it gladly, but tolerate and defend it we must if we have any intention of seeing the Constitution survive in it's current form. It is a guarantee handed down from those that founded this nation to us and our children that free speech would always have a place in this country. That ideas, regardless of their negative impact on anyone or any section of society, could be openly spoken about without fear of reprisals. Tolerating hate speech, like it or not, is a cornerstone of our democracy.

One of the first things a dictatorial government seeks to do to it's constituents
is to remove access to free speech. This limits the opportunities that any opposition has to make it's case to the public. It keeps the populace from knowing just exactly who is a dissenter and who is one of the party faithful. It aids in bringing about a climate of suspicion and makes the formation of organized resistance very difficult. Taking away a person's right to speak freely creates the climate of Orwell's "1984" and it's thought-crime based system of government. It seeks to homogenize the populace and remove dissenting opinion from the minds of the people that live under it's rule.

Making it possible for people to speak their minds openly allows individuals to take sides and to debate in open forums the worth of any faction's or person's point of view. It allows the citizen to make his or her own judgments and keeps us from becoming a dictatorship. Allowing hate speech minimizes it's venomous effects as those that speak it are able to make themselves appear the fools that we all know them to be on a public stage. It also brings the hate into the open so that parents might more easily address the topic with children in order to keep them from falling victim to the seduction of the hate groups that use hate speech in the furtherance of their own agendas. It also allows those that are being hated to avoid the people that are able to openly profess their willingness to harm those that they waste time hating.

It's important to remember that at any given time it is politically correct to use hate speech. "I hate the filthy terrorist bastards that attacked the World Trade Center". "I hate pedophiles". "All those that rape

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Should we tolerate hate speech??
We want to hear your view. Write now!