Hate Speech vs Freedom of Speech

Hate Speech VS Freedom of Speech

I was recently involved in a debate about wether you should recommend Minds.com. The problem is that while the actual product is great, the people behind it aren't.

The platform is a popular home to neo-Nazis , fascists , holocaust deniers , and racists .

(This is all explained by Dan Arel in a GitHub issue .)

Hopefully, it's clear that Minds is a bad platform; however, this isn't another article about Minds.

Having read the issue, the first person I thought of who used Minds was TheHatedOne . His mention of Minds was what lead to me discovering it. Hence, I thought it was right to make him, and his following, aware of what they were supporting by signing up.

I copied and pasted the issue into reddit (looking back this wasn't the wisest decision). Most people acknowledged that this hate speech was bad. Most people also seemed to think hate speech was a necessary evil to allow for freedom of speech. The general conception being that hate speech is freedom of speech .

I don't like hate speech either BUT for the sake of preserving the speech FREE, I'm willing to bear the consequences.

(Taken from the reddit thread .)

Should this be the case? Free speech is a requirement of functional democracy. If you don't allow hate speech are you taking away peoples basic human rights?

I disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It - Voltaire

I don't think so.

Sure, hate speech could be classed as freedom of speech, but I'd disagree with that. Freedom of speech is about being able to speak out against your governments without fear of oppression. Freedom of speech is being able to voice your opinion without censorship. These are things you need for society to function.

Hate speech, on the other hand, is not. There is no place in this world for blatantly false allegations or denying historical evidence. I am willing to be persuaded to believe almost anything as long as there is genuine evidence with reliable sources behind it. However, hate speech doesn't have reliable sources. Hate speech isn't freedom of speech. Hate speech is hate.

I am expecting a bit of backlash on this article, and by all means, share your opinion with me.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload. You can join in yourself by visiting https://100daystooffload.com .

#100DaysToOffload – Day 4/100