Friday, April 16, 2010
hate speech = not needed
Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. There is never any need for hate but it tends to rear its ugly head very often. And this hate comes in many different forms. There is hate in the form of speech, like language and the use of profanity or just being mean in general. I most definitely do not agree with anything that will cause harm or hurt feelings of a group or person. And I especially do not like hate, I am a nothing but love, love, love kind of person. Love for everyone and everything big and small. If my college or any college, like AVC, were to have or allow a hate group leader to speak to I know I would be very against it. I know I would not attend the speech or meeting, whatever the reason the person that is speaking is there. I also know that I would share my opinion as to why I am against it. I would work very hard to prevent it from happening. Under the First Amendment we are given the freedom to speak our minds. The freedom of speech is a big one that not many people are accustom or fortunate enough to have a law that allows them to speak freely with repercussion or persecution. Being the person that I am and believing in what I do, I know that I am all for free speech but not for hurting people. And I also agree with people being able to do anything they want that will make them happy. As long as there is no hurting of other people's feelings. By law we are granted the freedom to speak freely and share our thoughts and beliefs with the world. I find it necessary to do whatever is needed for someone to be happy but not at the expense of others. There is no need for burting others. I find it necessary to do what I need to in order to keep the hate away from myself. People often get into trouble with some or the words they use because it offends people. Mainly because it is deemed either obscene or inappropriate due to the vulgarity of it all. So in this situation I would think that it would be unethical to have First Amendment rights protecting any situation involving hate. Speaking to any sort of group should only be done, in my opinion, with an open mind and unbias opinion form of information. They should be done in language that is mean, obscene, vulgar or anything even remotely offensive. First Amendment rights should be reserved for people and group leaders that are part of something that will help the world. Or like benefit everyone somehow. People or speakers that project or relay a positive message for all people, especially the younger generations. Because all kids need to learn to treat everyone that same. There should be no hate, mean stuff, bullies or anything like that. So in the end I would not approve of a hate group leader speaking at my school, for any reason. And I do not feel that they should be protected by the first amendment because there should be NO HATE, just tons of love. I mean there is already a lot of hate in the world already we do not need to fuel the fire much longer. NO HATE! JUST LOVE for everything no matter what.
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Hello Valerie,
ReplyDeleteTo me, this is very strategic, as we can learn and grow from many different views better than holding only to our own beliefs, or only what we like to hear. Of course, we have the right to reject their view after listening to them, but we cannot expect everyone to speak the same tone we do. That’s why the U.S. is a great country, and stands out from the globe, because we allow and accept other’s view as well as we can comment on their view for the purpose of improvement, not harming each other. If we do not let them speak because their tones are not nice, how can we analyze and help them to change. Of course, it’s always good to hear nice words; however, there are times, we need to listen, or step back, so we can speak and go forward to make the world a better place to live. Free speech is a great tool to have, and I believe it is what makes our country so great. Just look at what happened in England last summer when the expenses of Parliament Members were reveled for the very first time. How many resigned shortly after the public knew their tacit corruption, and how many more will not run for re-election when the time comes? Freedom of speech keeps our government honest, and that is very important to a free society.
I really enjoyed your blog this week. I like how you started out talking about hate. There are so many different things that hate can relate to. Hate speech seems to be the new problem on the rise in our society these days. It seems like everyone has something bad to say about someone else or the way they look and or act. It is really sad that our society has gone this low and has become this horrible. I agree with you on the fact that allowing a hate group to speak at a college is completely wrong. If we knowingly let people who are set out to do nothing more than hurt other people then we are just as bad as the people involved in the hate group. When we stand by and do nothing to stop these sort of hate crimes then we can be categorized with these people and seem just as bad as they are. I really liked when you said, “by law we are granted the freedom to speak freely and share our thoughts and beliefs with the world”. This to me showed that you do know what our First Amendment right is but just because we have this right does not give us the right to hurt other people with our words. I really like how you ended your blog by saying that we do not need more hate just more love and if we keep protecting hate speech that we will just be fueling the fire. You did a great job on your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate and admire your passion for life, love and fairness. I also understand your firm position on NOT allowing known proliferators of hate speech on college campuses. Your argument makes sense on a personal level. But where I disagree is the policy of banning any group that may have a controversial message. Once censorship is applied to certain groups because of their use of “hate” language, perhaps another group that has “overly religious” message may be banned because the school board president is an atheist. My concern would be that once “officials” decide what is to be censored, what is to stop them from censoring anything else?
Where I see a common ground with your argument is the knowledge that we have the right to simply refuse to attend a speech by a group that preaches hate. If a skinhead leader had permission to speech and hand out flyers at AVC next Friday, my friends and I would certainly boycott such an event. We have the right to do so with out fear of reprisals as much as the skinhead as the right to make a public speech – and a complete ass of himself in the eyes of rational college students. And I would even take it further by promoting a counter rally in protest of the skinhead’s speech. Where we seem to disagree is that Mr. Skinhead does have just as much right to speak out, as I have to speak out against his message of hate.
Hi Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. I agreed with you on most parts of what you wanted to present. For example, I also don’t like hate speech and don’t agree with how people present their opinions that way, however, I do believe that they have the right to present it the way they want without being a threat to anyone or causing violence. I also wrote on this topic and my opinion on this was that everyone has a right to say what they want without being a threat to anyone else, however, there are consequences for everything an individual says. Like you, I also wouldn’t listen to the hate speech and I would pass it by. The great thing about this country is that we are not forced to listen to things we don’t agree to, although it would be better to listen to different opinion about an issue. And I also agree with how you said that you will voice your opinion as to why you are against it, which is another reason we are so fortunate to live in this country. You stated that we shouldn’t talk to people so meanly and express ourselves at their expense; however, I believe that every individual has a different way of expressing themselves. Taking away their privilege to speak their way, in my opinion, is discriminatory. You had an enjoyable blog that demonstrated a little opposing view to how I feel, however, it was a great way to broaden my understanding on censorship and free speech. Great work!