5 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Should we have freedom of hate speech?
Nah, I dunno about in the US, but in the UK you can criticise religion all you like. You should see how many newspaper front pages criticise Islam or Muslims. There's a difference between criticising a religion and stirring up hatred, which I've kind of outlined above. Often papers seem to cross the line into hatred, but they get away with it.
If you're talking about people online, I think tone can be really tricky to manage and that might be part of what you're seeing. There are so many people online who do just want to cause offence. And to be honest, there are some people who do want to take offence - or are at least some people are primed to take offence because they're so often attacked.
One thing as well - sometime the truth is hurtful. But if you're in that mindset of "the truth hurts", it can be really easy to fall into the trap of being hurtful for the sake of it - as if hurting someone will break down their barriers so they finally accept the truth. That's actually not the case. Being hurtful just makes people dig their heels in. I know this is gonna sound super soft, but kindness is honestly the best way to get through to people.
I find it really helps to frame your own side around a clear set of principles. Like "I believe women should be able to wear what they want". That way the discussion doesn't start from "you're a bad person", but from "this is the ideal situation, how do we get there?" This can be kind of disarming, and can also lead to some useful nuance. You both might learn some things, and you can take that into your next conversation. What do you reckon?
Comment by hiphoptomato at 31/01/2025 at 01:25 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Yeah there’s speech and then you mentioned spray painting someone’s house - which is vandalism. So it’s not really an issue of speech at that point anymore.