Should the right to hate speech be guaranteed?

Anonymous commenters on various message boards across the Internet repeatedly argue that they are entitled to freely express their opinions regardless of how slanderous or hateful they might be. Stanley Fish’s column in the NY Times on this topic effectively rebuts such harmful contentions:

Jeremy Waldron’s new book, “The Harm in Hate Speech,” might well be called “The Harm in Free Speech”; for Waldron, a professor of law and political theory at New York University and Oxford, argues that the expansive First Amendment we now possess allows the flourishing of harms a well-ordered society ought not permit.

Waldron is especially concerned with the harm done by hate speech to the dignity of those who are its object. He is careful to distinguish “dignity harms” from the hurt feelings one might experience in the face of speech that offends. Offense can be given by almost any speech act — in particular circumstances one might offend by saying “hello” — and Waldron agrees with those who say that regulating offensive speech is a bad and unworkable idea.

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Hillary Clinton Comments On Rev. Wright’s Hate Speech

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writers Wereschagin and Brown reported that in an interview today with the Tribune-Review’s editorial board, Hillary Clinton said Rev. Wright would not have been her pastor, adding, "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."

Wereschagin and Brown continued:

“Obama's lead in national polls has slipped since clips of the retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright began being played on national news programs. The uproar prompted Obama to give a wide-ranging speech on race in America a week ago. The Clinton campaign has refrained from getting involved in the controversy, but Clinton herself, responding to a question, denounced what she said was ‘hate speech.’

“‘You know, I spoke out against Don Imus (who was fired from his radio and television shows after making racially insensitive remarks), saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that,’ Clinton said. ‘I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving.’”

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Boycotting Hillary-Bashing Left-Wing Blogs

Photo Credits: Getty Images

Alegre’s post at Taylor Marsh announcing her decision to launch her own writer’s strike at Daily Kos caught my attention this morning. I don’t often check in at DailyKos, so it will be easy for me to join Alegre in boycotting that online community. But as I read the details of Alegre’s complaint regarding the sexist, misogynist attacks on Hillary Clinton by rabid Obamaphiles at DailyKos, I was reminded that similar conditions exist at the HuffingtonPost, Obama’s flagrant online mouthpiece, equally well known for its Hillary-bashing.

Was anyone surprised that Obama elected to release his statement to the HuffingtonPost on Friday regarding his pastor, Jeremiah Wright’s hate speech; or that HuffPo responded by giving Obama a banner headline with a ridiculously pious photo of this so-called harbinger of “the new politics” who frequently boasts of his good judgment?

In the past several days, the media overall have predictably continued to trash Geraldine Ferraro for her remarks that were arguably a mere statement of the facts (read Earl Ofari Hutchinson’s defense of Ferraro here).

But back to Alegra, she states her case at the beginning of her post at Taylor Marsh:

“I’ve been posting at DailyKos for nearly 4 years now and started writing diaries in support of Hillary Clinton back in June of last year. Over the past few months I’ve noticed that things have become progressively more abusive toward my candidate and her supporters.”

She continues:

“I’ve put up with the abuse and anger because I’ve always believed in what our on-line community has tried to accomplish in this world. No more. DailyKos is not the site it once was thanks to the abusive nature of certain members of our community.

“Instead, I will put my energy into posting at sites where my efforts aren’t routinely trashed, spammed and ridiculed by a handful of angry, petty and spiteful folks who clearly have too much time on their hands.”

Alegre includes MYDD and TalkLeft among left-wing sites who fight fair, and she concludes with an invitation to join her in a new labor union:

"The double standards, the distortions, the hateful, irrational, personal attacks, and the lies about Hillary and her long and distinguished record of public service stop here – and they stop now.

"So I hereby announce the formation of a new labor union...

"The American Federation of Concerned Bloggers (AFCB).

"This is a writer’s strike - who’ll join me on the picket line?

"By the way...

"Are you current on your union dues?

"Pony-up folks."


To read Alegre’s post in its entirety, go here.