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This essay seeks to summarize the main ideas in this article on hate speech as well as the claims that have been provided by the author to support the idea in this work. The article main theme is to discuss issues surrounding the development of hate speech law in the US. The paper will take into account the author’s main argument in relation to the issue of hate speech as well as the need for free speech in society.
The article main idea is that the first amendment of the American constitution in relation to speech came in to deny the American citizen their person freedom as well as liberty. The author’s of the article do argue that the amendment is against the founding principles of the constitution which do state that the congress should not make any law that will restrict or affect negatively the people freedom of expression and speeches among other rights that were enshrined in the constitution by the founding fathers. This first amendment has been an issue of a number of arguments legal challenges as well as court decision which contradict each other throughout American history. The juries and judges have found themselves in continued wrangles over the earning amendment to this day.
The article is of the argument that hate speech should be restricted. Any form of speech that demeans or devalue a given gender, race, sexuality or certain group of people should be regulated. The article has given some incidences in the American history where the judges have been called upon to give their interpretation in relation to the provision the article. In most cases the interpretation of the provision seems to favor personal freedom/liberty to express oneself ideas freely. The article has pinpointed out some reasons why hate speeches should be restricted.
The issue of people from certain ethnic group to be undermined or dehumanized through hate speeches is one of the issues that brings disharmony in the society. These sorts of hate speech against people from certain races bring some form of enormity in the societies which undermine national unity. The article also is of the view that without regulating hate speech people from marginalized communities tends to feel marginalized and undervalued. For example some universities in US were forced by incidences of some white students to utter hate speeches against black students (Levendosky &Charles, 1998. The university management had to come up with policies to regulate / restrict speeches that demean certain groups of people in the university community. Therefore based upon the above issues/reasons the article is of the view that free speech should be restricted in cases where the speech in demean and has a negative impact on the societies harmony.
The ideas and claims that the article has given on the issues of restricting free speeches and in my view is valid: free speech should be restricted in cases where it undermines certain groups of people in society and in cases where it’s harmful to the peaceful co-existence of people. These reasons are weighty. Speech should be restricted if in any case it demean people of certain gender, sex or race. This should be done to ensure that there is harmony and unity in American society. The first amendment was a timely measure that comes in to ensure that people did not misuse their freedom to free speech to demean or disrupt the peace of the community.
In conclusion, free speech should be encouraged in any given society as it plays a major role in the growth of democracy of the society in question. Even though, free speech should be enhanced in any given society some restriction are important to ensure this freedom to free speech is not misused to an extent of uttering hate speeches against some groups of people in society.
