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No. Threats of violence are against the law. That is significantly different. Saying offensive things about protected classes (hate speech) is not against the l
by superkuh 4y ago
No. Threats of violence are against the law. That is significantly different. Saying offensive things about protected classes (hate speech) is not against the law (in the USA). But we (apparently) need to ask ourselves why this distinction exists. ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_in_the_United_Stat...
Hate speech, "further up the spectrum" is not against the law because it doesn't violate the rights or the volition of anyone nor defraud them or hurt them. It's just stupid and offensive. In some context enough to be fighting words, but not in all contexts. Why? Because things that are against the law invoke the use of violent force by the government. Invoking violent force to deprive a person of their volition is harm done far beyond some offensive speech. It is disproportionate and makes things worse.
That's why things that are just speech are protected (from government use of force) in the USA by our constitution. Without this protection you end up with governments slowly drifting over to behave like the Saudis. It may take a while, but every nation state will get there without laws to prevent it.