The First Amendment: America’s Right to Destroy Itself
The First Amendment does not protect all speech, and for America to survive, the government and society must regulate hate speech and enemy propaganda.
It’s 2024. A part of the American government spreads debunked Russian propaganda. Swastika-wearing skinheads march through cities unopposed. Mind-poisoning conspiracy theories spread faster than syphilis in the skull of a now-mummified Soviet communist leader.
How do you go from the world’s democratic superpower to a collapsing circus tent? This Ukrainian right here has an idea about the causes: unregulated hate speech and disinformation. In other words, your First Amendment.
But do not object yet. Better prepare for the undeniable truths I am about to splatter.
Absolute freedom of speech is absurd. There is a difference between free speech, hate speech, and enemy propaganda. And if you don’t punish hateful ideologies or sabotage, you will lose your free speech anyway. I will explain why as clearly as I can.
Free speech is NEVER absolute
The idea of “absolute freedom of speech” can not exist in a functioning society. Any society is bound to face situations where some speech is limited to protect the rights and safety of others.
Certain speech is not protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The American Supreme Court has clarified special considerations that limit the First Amendment. Federal and state laws also restrict certain types of speech.
Excluded from the protection are defamation, fraud, false and deceptive commercial speech, and c**d p**ography promotion. The First Amendment does not protect speech that incites or is likely to incite immediate lawless use of force or unlawful conduct. Encouraging suicide may become a crime soon.
In short, some forms of speech are regulated by the government, and deservedly so. I’m sure most of us can agree that freedom of speech should not be absolute. It’s just a matter of how much regulation speech should have.
I know many self-proclaimed free-speech absolutists who are strongly against any regulations. Too bad they are inconsistent and disingenuous.
Free speech absolutists are against speech they don’t like hearing
Free speech advocates consistently fail to meet their own standards. You needn't go far for an example.
Take Elon Musk. He states that he is a free speech absolutist, and he does indeed support the nazi accounts, far-right wingers, and anti-vaxxers. Because these are “good” free speeches.
Simultaneously, Musk advocates for the destruction of the woke ideology (which he calls the “virus”) and silences bloggers and journalists who have opposing views. He promoted the leaked photos from Hunter Biden’s notebook but banned leaks connected to the BLM protests and the January 6 capitol attack. He also silences political opponents of foreign authoritarian regimes on his platform. These are “bad” free speeches.”
Just to make sure you realize this: this is him opposing freedom of expression he doesn’t like. Many such cases among those who cry about their First Amendment rights.
The hypocrisy of the “cancel culture” opponents
People complaining about attacks on their freedom of expression often can’t stand opposing views. Think about an average conservative “free speech” when someone mentions LGBT rights or inclusivity.
The term “cancel culture” was coined by people who felt they had been unfairly criticized or boycotted. It usually goes like this:
- Someone uses freedom of expression to say something bad (oftentimes degrading, racist, anti-human, genocidal, nazi-esque).
- Others criticize the first person by exercising their freedom of speech.
- Another group may use free speech to disassociate themselves from someone harmful.
Voilà. The arduous fighter with the cancel culture tries to oppose genuine expression of free speech because he cares for free speech. A tale as old as the Bill of Rights itself.
Unregulated hate speech corrupts society
America’s protection of hateful speech is what allows self-destructive ideologies to proliferate. In many cases, it led to disgrace and national threats.
It was shameful in 1977 when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defended the Nazi rally in Illinois. It was disgraceful when the ACLU defended a KKK leader calling for the mass deportation of Black Americans “back to Africa.”
Protecting this kind of rhetoric is not only embarrassing but also dangerous. Words have been at the root of countless genocides. Hate speech is how the nazi party rose to power. That’s how Radio Mille Collines radio station helped incite the Rwandan Genocide.
Dehumanizing, nazi-like rhetoric resonates with similar-minded audiences. The truth doesn’t always prevail in the “marketplace” of shit ideas. Why?
Because fascists and bigots usually don’t care about the truth, nor do they double-check information. They seek information that reinforces their prejudices.
Allow fascist echo chambers to grow in the open, and your society will gradually marginalize. Nazis will multiply, inhuman views will spread, and BAM — you have a walking threat to public security.
Enemy propaganda is destructive for a state
In the early years of Word War II, the US ignored the domestic nazi threat. It allowed German-American writer George Sylvester Viereck openly distribute propaganda for the nazi government among the members of the Congress. He would sometimes get his instructions from the German embassy, which is not much different from what russian-aligned government officials do today (although they use email and WhatsApp).
And who can forget the infamous 1939 nazi rally at Madison Square Garden? It seems like the entirety of the US forgot.
The US arrested and convicted Viereck under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They sentenced him multiple times just to get him in prison. The organizers of the nazi rallies were quietly “dealt with” in time.
This was the right thing to do. Why? Because pro-nazis were promoting falsehoods and hate speech that incited violence and posed a threat to national security during a war in Europe.
The threat of no regulation
Pro-russian spies are promoting falsehoods and hate speech that incites violence and poses a threat to national security during a war in Europe. The largest war in Europe since WWII. They have done so freely for 2 years now, and they get more brazen each day.
Republicans themselves say that russian propaganda is being repeated on the House floor. If you think that’s just hearsay, I invite you to check what these Republicans say on social media. Surprise-surprise, they are parroting the densest Kremlin talking points.
I won’t delve into details. To give you an idea of how bad it got: an active member of the US House of Representatives, although known for being braindead, was against the aid to Ukraine because it has become the biggest hub for selling the organs of children sex slaves.
Interestingly, the modern anti-Ukrainian proponents mirror the rhetorics of the WWII-era nazi rallies. Both pro-russian and pro-nazi leaders pushed to keep the US out of the war in Europe. And their slogan was “America First,” coincidently (not).
If the “America First” deceptive rhetorics would’ve won back then, nazis could’ve won (no Land Lease, no troops on the ground, no atomic bomb). If the “America First” bollocks prevent the US from allocating less than 0.3% of its yearly GDP now, nazis could win.
The situation with hate speech is even worse. Periodic neo-nazi rallies, pro-Hitler marches, and anti-LGBT assaults are basically unpunished. The only reaction from society is a coping mechanism in the form of pretending that “these are just masked federal agents.”
I’m afraid that these are not feds, it’s actual citizens of your country. To see that I’m right, visit Twitter (X) and search for “hitler.”
Actually, let’s do that.
Would you look at that: letting bigots and nazis run rampant in a community really makes that community worse. Considerably so. Do you want the discourse on today’s Twitter to become something you see on the streets? That is already happening in some places.
How other countries handle hate speech and propaganda
Authoritarian countries like Russia and Belarus handle security threats the old-fashioned way.
Insulted the president? There’s a criminal article for that. Replaced supermarket labels with anti-war messages? Here’s 7 years in prison. Mourned a dead political opponent of a fascist dictator? To the jail. Air tickled a war statue in a TikTok video (yes, that bad)? Forced correction labor. Gulag countries, basically. This is not the right way to approach freedom of speech or democracy, of course.
Most democratic European countries have achieved a daring synthesis between freedom and morality.
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that exercising freedom of expression implies duties and responsibilities. It may be subject to conditions, restrictions, or penalties if they are necessary in the interest of national security, territorial integrity, health and morals, and the rights of others.
This is why most countries explicitly ban the symbols of the nazi Germany party. This is why savvier countries like Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania ban soviet communism symbols on par with Nazi symbols.
Although these policies don’t work perfectly all the time, they greatly reduce the risk of public safety without breaking the core principles of democracy.
Paradox of tolerance
There should be a limit to tolerance. To protect the ideals of the First Amendment, you must become intolerant of intolerance.
If you’re still unsure about limiting freedom of speech (yes, you, free-speecher), ask yourself this: Where do your values lie? What do you get by protecting the enemies of humanity and your state?
Do you hate your government? Everyone hates their governments. But you already have Russian and Chinese collaborators in your administration.
Spies had to be discreet before; now they can shill in the open. Their employers, enemies of your state, want to make everything worse for you. In the end, they will deprive you of your precious First Amendment rights anyway.
Surrender to authoritarian regimes and you will lament the days when you could publicly insult your government.
Do you think protecting the speech of nazis, genocide supporters, and white supremacists makes you morally better? No, it makes you morally worse and ideologically weaker. The depraved people you allow to speak freely will exploit this weakness to get ahold of power. As history has taught us, once in power, they will take away those freedoms you’ve been so protective of.
Wake up, America, before it’s too late!
My hyper-controversial take is that the government and society should restrict hate speech and enemy propaganda.
Let me emphasize: the government regulations alone aren’t enough. The society should join in. An employee who casually denigrates transgender and disabled people in a single social media post might lose a job. That’s a form of social and professional responsibility.
What the American nation needs to do right now is to get serious about implementing the following practices:
- Ban totalitarian symbols. Enforce criminal responsibility for displaying symbolics of nazi Germany and glorification of adolf hitler. Gradually, move in to ban the ideologies and leaders of red fascism.
- Crackdown on the hate groups. The ultra-far-right and ultra-far-left groups should be disbanded. Their track record gives the government justifiable reasons to do that. They only lack the political will.
- Develop a legislative foundation for the restrictions. Define objective criteria for hate speech and enemy propaganda to prevent government misuse, adopting the practices of European legislators.
- Block cesspols of disinformation. TikTok is cancer — treat it
- Pubcliy ostracizes the fascists. Isolate your society from people who promote human-hating ideologies. Nazis, white supremacists, and other genocidal maniacs should be looking over their shoulders everywhere they go.
- Monitor nazis and enemies of the state. Create public registers of anti-human bigots and those on the Kremlin’s payroll, just like you have a register of sex offenders. Every community should immediately understand if a pro-fascist just moved into their neighborhood.
- Reform the education. Launch public awareness campaigns and school programs to teach about the dangers of extremism. Start by explaining that Jewish people, in fact, do not want to replace White Americans with migration and race-mixing.
This and only this can save and improve the good old US of A.
Kashadoo (Organic Ukrainist/Punished Ukrainian), or Georgii, is a seasoned technical copywriter and ex-prosecutor from Ukraine. When not working, he usually writes nonsense on Twitter or plays indie games. His soul wants to speak about the important stuff — the russo-Ukrainian war, Western perceptions of Ukraine and russia
