Free Speech vs. Criminalizing Hate Speech

How much is freedom worth to you? I mean, would you trade in your rights to free speech just to avoid being offended yourself? Some people would, and that is scary. One of the beautiful things about America is that we can say anything we want at all, provided we’re not leaking national secrets, using lies to ruin someone’s reputation, threatening someone else with bodily harm, or harassing someone in a way that it cripples their ability to live freely. I can tell you that I don’t agree with something you’re doing, and not be punished for it… for now.

We’re going down a slippery slope here. When people like Al Sharpton want to come up with a set of words that no one, under any circumstances, can use (unless you are part of that group, which makes it completely alright then), it leaves us in a place to consider what else might offend someone and ban that too. I want to preface this with the following: I believe that it is our duty to be respectful of one another, and that true diversity is a beautiful thing. We should embrace our differences and magnify our similarities. Our cultural differences give the world color in a sea of blah. This fake, forced, diversity that is mandated upon us from the powers that be, however, is insulting. I think that what Don Imus said about the Rutgers women’s basketball team was offensive and despicable. He should be subject to whatever punishment his employers (NBC and CBS) want to undertake to protect their private business. To suggest, however, that he was speaking his views on all women or African Americans is absurd. It’s possible that is what he believes, but to infer that from what he said is quite presumptuous. He was speaking about a specific group of girls; the basketball team.

The second that we decide that there needs to be oversight on the things we say, we’re done; our freedoms are over. The moment we start to criminalize speech that someone might find offensive, we’re all in trouble. Everybody has offended someone in their lifetime. Take the recent marriage of Liz Hurley to Indian Arun Nayar. One local citizen was offended that they had a “showcase” wedding and that they insulted Hindu traditions by sitting on a couch, rather than the floor, kissed near the sacred fire, and had taken alcohol before the ceremony. In India, section 295 of the penal code makes it an offence punishable by three years in prison to “outrage” any group’s religion with deliberate and malicious intention.” Liz Hurley is looking at jail time for this!

In other countries, there are laws in place to uphold the major culture of that country. In the United States, we protect the weak and indefensible. The majority is often told to go take a flying leap in favor of anyone that doesn’t like how we do things. America bends to every fleeting fancy of any group not in the majority. I believe that the weak and indefensible need protection. They need to be made to feel safe and welcome in America, but that does not include changing way 85-95% of the population lives in order to accommodate a few people. That does not include allowing Sharia law to trump American law in some communities. That does not include eliminating Christmas, because a small population does not celebrate it. And it certainly does not include having to avoid offending someone with your speech! In America, a law similar to the Indian one would not protect the majority; it would protect minorities and alternative lifestyles. I want to restate my views: we should be kind to everyone and do our best not to offend. We can not, however, control what others will be offended at. For Christians, this may mean that we would face jail time for speaking such “bigoted” beliefs as Jesus claiming, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)” or Paul saying, “In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. (Romans 1:27).” (I’m sorry if those passages offend you, but they are parts of Christian scripture, staples of our faith, the very words of God, himself.) Do you think it sounds inconceivable to go to jail for teaching these things? Believers in Europe and Canada have already been coming under fire for preaching things like this. Some are spending time in jail.

So, whether you are brown, red, yellow, black, or white, let us come together and realize that it is our free speech that keeps America free. It is our right to be offended at what others say, that gives us the right to speak freely. Censorship will only hurt each of us in the long run. It will only benefit the groups whose lobbyists spend the most money at Capitol Hill. Criminalizing speech will eventually make criminals of you and me.