Hate Speech and the First Amendment

31 May 2017

Portland Mayor: Let’s not get carried away with this whole “free speech” thing

A lot of people think hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment, but it is. Unfortunately, so is their ignorant speech.

Actually, I think protecting “hate” speech is the reason the First Amendment exists in the first place. The very idea is to protect unpopular speech from government harassment and censorship, especially since a lot of what qualifies as hate speech these days, isn’t, and needs saying more often. For example:

Jesus is the ONLY way to Heaven.

They keep using the word “hate,” but it doesn’t mean what they think it means.

Tagged: First Amendment free speech hate speech liberals