The Problem With Making Hate Speech Illegal
The answer to the violence in Charlottesville isn’t to outlaw white supremacy
By Suzanne Nossel
This weekend’s deadly melee in Charlottesville, Virginia, is bound to fuel calls for increased regulation of hateful speech. The confrontation triggered by white supremacist marchers offered a frightening demonstration of how racist, anti-Semitic, and other noxious messages can ignite clashes and willful attacks that kill, injure, intimidate, and divide. President Donald Trump’s reluctance to name the problem only compounds it, fortifying the belief that his administration is in league with the merchants of hate.
Spikes in hate crime statistics and incidents of hateful speech over the last year suggest a problem spiraling out of control, feeding calls for legal solutions. When confronted with a surging problem, Americans like to pass laws. In December, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act which broadened the definition of speech that can trigger a civil rights investigation. A bill newly introduced in the U.S. Senate would ban advocacy of boycotts against Israel, justified in large part by concerns over anti-Semitism. Earlier this month, city commissioners in Fargo, North Dakota (the state with the second highest level of hate crimes in…
