Freedom of Speech & Hate Speech Americans value the freedom of speech

The perception of crisis is why hate speech has become a divisive issue among progressives. The distressing force of the current backlash against hard-won minority rights creates a fundamental conflict between our commitment to free expression and our desire to protect and preserve the victims of abuse. The result is an aching uncertainty about where to draw the line (Goldstein 412).

The question, then, is whether campus speech codes are the right way to address the problem of hate speech, or if such speech codes violate free speech to such a degree that they should not be adopted. Campus speech codes are indeed the wrong way to address this problem, and they are especially wrong because

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otes first that there "are very strong reasons for protecting even racist speech," but he then states that he is troubled by the way such speech might lead to violence (Lawrence 39). The real reason why he supports hate speech codes, though, is his view that hate speech creates victims, noting that we tend to show "little understanding of their injury" and that "we have abandoned those whose race, gender, or sexual preference continues to make them second-class citizens" (Lawrence 39). Lawrence sees hate speech codes as protecting the constitutional rights of women and black and other minority students. He cites the case of Brown v. Board of Education, which, while it was not specifically about speech, did articulate the principle of equal citizenship by finding segregated schools inherently unequal: If we understand the necessity of eliminating the system of signs and symbols that signal the inferiority of blacks, then we should hesitate before proclaiming that all racist speech that stops short of physical violence must be defended (Lawrence 40). Lawrence also tries to refute the idea that the antidote for unwanted speech is more speech, for instead, he expresses the belief that hate speech prevents other kinds of speech
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Some common words found in the essay are:
REBUTTAL Lawrence, Board Education, Richard Goldstein, Derek Bok, Lawrence III, Nat Hentoff, CONCLUSION Speech, Harlan Blackmun, Supreme Court, Correctness PC, hate speech, free speech, speech codes, racist speech, speech speech, hate speech codes, freedom speech, fight racism, current issues enduring, boston bedford, bedau eds, enduring questions sylvan, hugo bedau, issues enduring questions, sylvan barnet hugo,
Approximate Word count = 1861
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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