Week 4 discussion - Question 2

I learned that hate speech is defined as any communication or gesture that targets a person because of his/her race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. The people that engage in it are those who protest against a certain attribute that a person has or people who just have something against someone's race, gender, etc. There are not much effort to regulate hate speech on the Web because the First Amendment protects it. The First amendment allows people to freely express themselves through speech and they cannot be punished by saying whatever they want as long as it is not libel, obscenity, or fighting words. I believe that hate speech should be banned and people who choose to use hate speech should be penalized. Hate speech should definitely censored because not only is it hateful, but it can lead to many horrible consequences such as depression of the person targeted, or even worse, suicide. Some people may argue that censoring hate speech would be violating our right to free speech, but free speech should not be abused and used to bash on people just because we do not agree with who they are and their way of life. I think hate speech can be reduced if people were educated on its consequences. Also, reducing hate speech can start at home, where parents and elders can teach their children at a young age that it is wrong and it should not be done. The way kids were raised can really have an affect on how they would be when they're older.