Hates Speech in the 21st Century
In the United States, hate speech typically has been reserved toward race and has resulted in intolerance, hatred, and violence toward black people well into the Eighties. Hate rhetoric has always had a tendency to lead toward sinister actions toward those whom the poisoned words are directed. In the 21rst century, one almost wants to use to term evolved to describe the malice in speech compared with our past, however, it only shifted shades. Racism has been redirected, and now targets Arabs and Muslims. The national debate has actually become: should the United States practice profiling? Considering the enemy we are fighting, discrimination has some defensible points.
Racism is not the only form of hate speech prevalent. It has now become common place to use hyperbolic and violent language toward members of political ideologies. These rants have lead toward actions as benign as pies being thrown to as sinister as Congressmen Giffords to be shot in the head. The response from the media was to cool the rhetoric, but factual, unimpassioned speech does not sell. Noam Chomsky once said the true words “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”