Like I've said, I am beginning to support laws against hate speech. Maybe we should outlaw that in the US. It works for them well in places like Canada and Europe. Laws like Holocaust denial I just don't understand though. What if a victim of the Holocaust denies it because he doesn't want to face what happened to him? Why is that ever illegal?
Also, I was reading a while back that hate speech laws (in countries like Europe, etc.) have the truth as a defense. So whatever group you're talking about, whatever you're saying, if it's true, you can't be charged with a crime. I actually thought at the time that might make it work.
So like I've said, I am beginning to lean towards the idea that hate speech should be illegal in my country too. It does do harm. The harm it does is the emotionial harm it creates when people hear it. There will always will be some things in society that offend people. Some people are very offended by the Mona Lisa and Michelangelo's "David" due to nudity. And, if it's displayed somewhere in public they may have no choice but to see it. Also people used to say where I live that they were offended there even was an adult movie theater in their neighborhood, even though they didn't see anything inside it. But society is all about striking a balance. And if we have to outlaw anything offensive, I think why not hate speech? Like I said, I did misunderstand hate speech laws in other countries. About 20 years ago I heard that hate speech laws have truth as a defense. If what you said was true for any reason, you couldn't be charged with that crime. When I heard that, I thought that actually could make laws like that work. Also, I did eventually learn that other countries, like Europe, do have people like neo-nazis. They are still free to believe what they want. They just are very restricted in what they can say. Like I also said before, I think some hate speech laws do still go a little overboard in some ways. But I think I am leaning toward them now. Because like I said, they seem to work well in every other place in the world.
The problem is it’s the government deciding what can be said for all those arguing for hate speech laws would you really want trump and the Republicans to be allowed to prosecute people for things they decided were not true or hateful
