Free speech vs. Hate speech
In a conversation on keithlard's blog, I said the following and I am curious what y'all think.
But where do you draw the line? Should one be drawn at all?
* Should people in Germany be allowed to deny that the Holocaust ever took place, that up to 11 million people, primarily Jews but also all other "imperfect" peoples, were killed in furnaces and experimented upon?
* If a radical Islamist preacher urges his congregation to bomb an embassy, but himself goes home and sips some decaf tea, should the Islamist preacher take no blame?
* Is hanging a noose on the doorknob of a black professor's office a form of protected expression, or a hate crime that should be treated the same as a death threat?
I don't know. I can't decide. I would rather people punched me in the face than called me names, I really wish I could stop these hate-mongers; if we stopped the inciters and teachers, then we wouldn't have them riling up followers and educating new generations of bigotry. But I don't want to condone censorship either.
(I was torn between using this "peace on Earth" icon, and the "The Power is Yours!" icon.)
But where do you draw the line? Should one be drawn at all?
* Should people in Germany be allowed to deny that the Holocaust ever took place, that up to 11 million people, primarily Jews but also all other "imperfect" peoples, were killed in furnaces and experimented upon?
* If a radical Islamist preacher urges his congregation to bomb an embassy, but himself goes home and sips some decaf tea, should the Islamist preacher take no blame?
* Is hanging a noose on the doorknob of a black professor's office a form of protected expression, or a hate crime that should be treated the same as a death threat?
I don't know. I can't decide. I would rather people punched me in the face than called me names, I really wish I could stop these hate-mongers; if we stopped the inciters and teachers, then we wouldn't have them riling up followers and educating new generations of bigotry. But I don't want to condone censorship either.
(I was torn between using this "peace on Earth" icon, and the "The Power is Yours!" icon.)