TY - BOOK ID - 21797162 TI - The Harm in Hate Speech PY - 2012 SN - 9780674065895 0674065891 0674065085 0674069919 9780674065086 PB - Cambridge, MA DB - UniCat KW - Liberté d'expression KW - Discours de haine KW - Human rights KW - Sociology of culture KW - Hate speech KW - Freedom of speech KW - Free speech KW - Liberty of speech KW - Speech, Freedom of KW - Philosophy. KW - Law and legislation KW - Propagande haineuse KW - Liberté d'expression KW - Philosophy KW - Philosophie KW - Civil rights KW - Freedom of expression KW - Assembly, Right of KW - Freedom of information KW - Intellectual freedom KW - United States KW - Liberté d'expression. KW - Discours de haine. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:21797162 AB - Every liberal democracy has laws or codes against hate speech-except the United States. For constitutionalists, regulation of hate speech violates the First Amendment and damages a free society. Against this absolutist view, Jeremy Waldron argues powerfully that hate speech should be regulated as part of our commitment to human dignity and to inclusion and respect for members of vulnerable minorities.Causing offense-by depicting a religious leader as a terrorist in a newspaper cartoon, for example-is not the same as launching a libelous attack on a group's dignity, according to Waldron, and it lies outside the reach of law. But defamation of a minority group, through hate speech, undermines a public good that can and should be protected: the basic assurance of inclusion in society for all members. A social environment polluted by anti-gay leaflets, Nazi banners, and burning crosses sends an implicit message to the targets of such hatred: your security is uncertain and you can expect to face humiliation and discrimination when you leave your home.Free-speech advocates boast of despising what racists say but defending to the death their right to say it. Waldron finds this emphasis on intellectual resilience misguided and points instead to the threat hate speech poses to the lives, dignity, and reputations of minority members. Finding support for his view among philosophers of the Enlightenment, Waldron asks us to move beyond knee-jerk American exceptionalism in our debates over the serious consequences of hateful speech. ER -