Hate speech is going mainstream
December 12 at 10:30 AM
... In this country, free speech is a fundamental right ... Hate speech is protected speech, and it should be. The answer to hate speech is more speech. Clumsy as it might be, the answer to hate speech is anti-hate speech ... The answer to hate speech is discourse that values and respects social differences.
We should also be very concerned about what is being expressed publicly right now. Donald Trump is only the most recent politician who has demeaned a specific group to win votes or political support. He demeaned undocumented Mexican workers and we saw evidence of a reporter for Univision being told to get out of America ... We have seen Trump protesters being attacked after he produced hateful remarks. If we look back at instances of hate crime and ethno-violence against Central and South American undocumented workers, we usually find that this violence was preceded by hateful public speech ...
The American hate movement does serve as a kind of foundation for hateful and extremist ideas. But these ideas are certainly not limited to Klan, neo-Nazi, Christian Identity, Neo-Pagan, or Sovereign Citizen groups. When politicians demean a group because of their identity, hate speech is being mainstreamed, and this mainstreaming makes that discourse more acceptable. Donald Trump is a very good example of hate speech being mainstreamed ...
... The mainstreaming of hate and hate speech is giving those in the hate movement a place in public life.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/12/hate-speech-is-going-mainstream/