Hate Speech and Censorship

Hate speech, according to the Free Speech Museum’s page, occur when one speaks of another’s ideas or being while lacking humility, tolerance, and optimism.  There are two basic reasons why people are intolerant and inconsiderate of others: disagreement of ideas or disagreement of interests.  Usually, interests are the driving force when it comes to policy decision making and that influences the way that one may process ideas.  Those with agendas in interests, those committed to a battling of ideas, and or those lacking humility, tolerance, and optimism are usually the ones that engage in hate speech activity.

Efforts to regulate free speech on the Web have been denied on the basis of the 1^st Amendment, which basically states that Congress is unable to infringe upon America’s freedom of speech.  This means that the government is unable to censor expressed opinions. Free Speech Museum’s page brings up the idea that, although we are technically protected from our government, we may be less protected by our fellow citizens who may take offense to or disagree with what we are stating.  I believe that if we made interested citizens of age register to participate in online hate groups, that would limit the grounds that would be available to people that would partake in hate speech.  I don’t think we will ever be able to eliminate hate speech as there is always going to be some negative belief about any topic you bring up because everyone is raised differently and holds different values.  Rather than promoting a group of “haters” of something, perhaps we could create a place within the group being disliked to have these issues brought up and discussed which would show maturity, respect, tolerance, and humility.  The fact that someone would be willing to partake in an intelligent discussion shows optimism in itself as it shows a desire for common ground and understanding.

There is no real option for censorship on the Internet as it would violate freedom of speech.  I think that besides making a formal request of a person of group, people are either going to be considerate of others views or object to another’s rights of expression, period.  All ideas, even those of intolerance, may spark an intelligent thought or conversation that could grow an individual.  I think that adults should not go looking to sensor their lives.  Censorship for adults is a way to put blinders on and not pay attention to what is going on around you in the real world. 

Taking this one step further, when it comes to the censorship and children, I believe it is a parent’s job to monitor Internet usage to censor what it is their children are able to see or not see.  Outside of the Internet, I think that a parent should do as much as they can to shelter their children from things that could negatively impact them as adults (depending on what age they are, violence, rape scenes, sex, pornography, extreme anger, etc.).  If children see something that may have upset them, parents need to hold open dialogue with the child to discuss what they believe they saw, how they should interpret it, why it happened in the first place, and how the child should feel regarding the event that took place.