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  • Essay / The Misconception of Hate Speech and Its Connection to Free Speech

    With all the racial issues happening in the world, many issues have been raised regarding free speech. The First Amendment to the Constitution states that all citizens of the United States enjoy freedom of speech, excluding threats, child pornography, and the use of combative language. A common debate concerns whether or not hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. Hate speech is used to insult and degrade people based on their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc. The debate is often about people's right to say what they want, no matter who it affects. Others, however, believe that all hate speech is offensive and poses a threat to the targeted group. Overall, hate speech is not technically protected by the First Amendment free speech. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Recently, there has been growing hatred towards Muslims all over the world due to the terrorist acts inflicted by ISIS. There have been various incidents in which American citizens, Muslims, have been physically and verbally attacked due to their slight connection to ISIS. Most people don't seem to understand that just because ISIS is Muslim doesn't mean the common enemy is all Muslims. When people attack Muslims, they believe their actions are necessary to protect our country. However, their actions are illegal because they go beyond verbal attacks. On the contrary, the majority of these attacks are violent in nature. Therefore, these actions go against the idea of ​​freedom of expression because these attacks are physical, threatening and dangerous against Muslims. The First Amendment to the Constitution states that there shall be no law prohibiting the practice of freedom of religion, freedom of speech. or the freedom to demonstrate peacefully. However, there are still things that the First Amendment does not protect. These things include threats, child pornography, and combative language. Often, hate speech is directed at someone, making it a direct threat or combative statement. If someone says racist slurs towards someone of said race, it could easily cause that person to fight the attacker. In this case, the hate speech used would not be protected by the First Amendment because the interaction resulted in a dispute over racial slurs. In most situations, hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. Unless you agree with the statements, most hate speech is considered offensive. However, just because something is offensive doesn't mean it's illegal. As a Jewish teenager, seeing your peers use the swastika is extremely offensive. The swastika represents a tragic time in the world when more than six million Jews were massacred by the Nazis. Drawing the swastika and using it as a joke is almost like saying the Holocaust was a joke. However, even though Jews find the swastika offensive, its use does not constitute a crime. The only time it becomes a crime is when someone tags personal property with it. In other words, if a teenager painted a swastika on a Jew's house, it would be considered a crime, but not a crime violating hate speech. In a similar scenario, referring to African Americans as “.