In chapter five A Gift of Fire, Sarah Baase tells us how the First Amendment protects our right to express his or her views on any topic. But some American citizens tend to take advantage of the Web; this problem brings up a very controversial topic. What should be illegal to put on the Web? That question depends on the individuals views. Pornography for one is illegal because it displays sexual behaviors that have no social, political, or artistic value. Should these Web pages be allowed on the web?
http://www.whywehatebush.com/
http://www.iratecitizens.org/Dumbya/102Reasons.html
A lot of times, as demonstrated by these websites, when people express their ideas, they can be very harmful. It is true that if a person doesn't like it, they don't have to look at it, but consider how things were before the Internet. People used to burn crosses in the yards of christians, and people now burn flags. Although these gestures may seem a lot more serious than hate speech on the Internet, the courts still ruled that these things were protected under the First Amendment as a freedom of expression. These hate srimes coused a lot of embarrassment for the people the hate crimes were toward, and this is the same situation as hate speech on the Internet. So the question is: is hate speech protected, being a form of expression, and protected by the First amendment; or does hate speech cause a defamation of character, which is classified as libel or slander?
ReplyDelete