"It takes as little as a flyer, a speech, a newspaper article, or a comedian to trigger calls for “hate speech” bans on college campuses.
Considering that many college students support the prohibition of hate speech, let’s imagine if the would-be censors got their way — what would our society look like?
First, we must acknowledge that, in the United States, hateful speech is fully protected by the First Amendment.
There’s no “hate speech versus free speech” debate raging in our nation’s judiciary.
Nor is there a balancing test, an exemption, or a special constitutional provision allowing the government to prohibit it — hateful speech is categorically protected in our nation, including at public colleges and universities, and that’s not changing anytime soon.
Getting back to our hate speech-less utopia, we have the luxury of looking to an actual world full of hate speech prosecutions in the many nations that do not enjoy our broad free speech protections.
- For example, in Pakistan, people are arrested and sentenced to death for “blasphemy” for insulting Islam, while in Egypt, individuals are arrested for “debauchery” for waving rainbow flags at concerts.
- Then, there are the thirty Turkish journalists currently facing consecutive life sentences for their anti-government articles, as well as the Kyrgyz author imprisoned for “inciting hatred between religious groups” for publishing a book questioning God’s form.
- Don’t forget about Germany, where just this year police raided dozens of people’s homes for “hateful postings over social media,”
- or the United Kingdom, where a man was convicted for his anti-military Facebook comments,
- or France, where a man was fined for holding up a sign saying “Get lost, jerk” to French President Nicolas Sarkozy — words Sarkozy himself said to a critic who refused to shake his hand during a public event.
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