Hate speech silences.
I’ve seen this reaction on a few articles on Twitter and Facebook, so I thought I’d address it. Here at Leaf and Core, we take a hardline stance against hate speech, harassment, and discrimination. You can read why here. To sum it up (and to give something that should be discussed at length an unfair summary), it’s speech or slurs made to cause prejudice and dehumanization a person or group of people for something that they are, with the intention of causing them harm or stripping them of human and equal rights.
However, that’s my definition. Let’s take a look at a few others.
Hate Speech, noun:
“speech that attacks, threatens, or insults a person or group on the basis of national origin, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”
– Dictionary.com
“speech expressing hatred of a particular group of people”
– Merriam-Webster
“Abusive or threatening speech or writing that expresses prejudice against a particular group, especially on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation.”
– Oxford Dictionary
Their definitions are a bit shorter than mine. They also list potential targets of hate speech as part of the definition. I actually disagree with doing this, as targeted groups change over time. I hope to one day see a world where hate speech against LGBTQ people is so rare that the dictionary definition for hate speech does not need to include us.
Instead, I define hate speech as speech attacking a group with prejudice with the intention of causing harm. This would therefore cover misogynistic hate speech, something that Dictionary.com’s definition covers, and something the Merriam-Webster dictionary vaguely covers.
But What Does this Mean?
Photo: REUTERS/Stephen Lam
Now, this doesn’t mean hating someone on the other side of the political spectrum is hate speech. It doesn’t mean someone saying, “Damn liberals!” is hate speech. Because they’re not responding to something you are, but, rather, something you do. It’s why you can express rage at child molesters and murderers, without this being considered hate speech. It’s why you can ban Nazis from your restaurant, but not gays. You can’t attack someone for how they were born, only for their actions as individuals.
Is This Vague?
Given this definition, there really shouldn’t be anything to fear from any decent person. A classic definition of obscenity is “I’ll know it when I see it.” That’s vague, but it’s the yardstick we already use to censor television, movies, games, books, and other forms of art. In fact, it disproportionately affects LGBTQ people, due to subconscious homophobia from reviewers.
This is, obviously, not a good system. It’s far too vague and leads to censorship, book bans, R-ratings for LGBTQ movies as a standard, and more. However, you’ll note this is not a form of censorship conservatives complain about. Why? It’s one they, largely, control. As I discuss in the hate speech article, people don’t want absolute freedom for everyone, they want the right to do whatever they want to do.
No
To remove any potential vagueness, we look directly at the intent. Does it use a stereotype to invite ridicule? Hate speech. Does it say a group should have fewer human rights because they are less than human? Hate speech. Calling someone a “lispy queer” or saying “socialism is for fags?” Obviously hate speech (and harassment if directed at an individual, as these comments were).
It’s very easy to identify when you look at the intention of hate speech, rather than relying on who it would offend.
If your intention is not to strip someone of their rights or block equal human rights, it’s likely not hate speech. If you do not want violence against a group of people, it’s not hate speech. If you do not use bigotry and willful ignorance to claim a group can change and stop being a part of that group, it’s not hate speech.
Defining hate speech is easy. It’s violence, posing as speech, made to bring harm to a person or group of people. With that in mind, the only people who should have anything to be concerned about when censorship of hate speech is on the table are those trying to inflict hate and violence.