The question of when does free speech cross over into hate speech came to mind while on campus at UCF. If you go to UCF, you may be familiar with a religious extremist group that holds signs saying you are going to hell while also shouting rude things. Anyway, I was enjoying my walk to class when my peace was interrupted by a fifty-something-year-old man shouting at me and other girls as we walked by that we are whores, we need to cover up, that we are sexually un-pure, and going to hell. This is the same group that I heard has also called African Americans monkeys and Muslims terrorist. I have heard they sometimes get removed from campus and other times not. This really brings the question; do they have a right under amendment one to say these extremely cruel and hurtful things to other human beings?
Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that hate speech is legally protected free speech under the First Amendment. There still are circumstances such as social media that can ban hate speech and remove your post such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. I would assume that since the group had been removed from campus before that UCF also has this rule against hate speech. It is crazy to me that hate speech is legal. However, the reason it is legal is because banning it would be allowing the government to use censorship and oppression from what I've heard. Then when it comes to the aspect of religion, people may justify their hate speech by religion. This justification makes things very complicated because you can not deny freedom of religion also covered in amendment one. Luckily, it seems that we are making some progress in America, we are a lot better than we used to be.
It makes sense in a way why things are the way they are, but it does not change the fact that hate speech is pretty rude. I was able to walk by that man shouting at me without getting mad, I was only sad that the man will never know how strong these women are that he is calling whores. If he could only understand that women are humans like every other gender, and we dress to feel comfortable and cute. The same speaks for the African Americans and Muslims that were called cruel and rude things. Every race, religion, gender, sexuality, human, etc are beautiful; I hope that one day this man will know how truly beautiful all people are. I hate the way this man also misrepresented the Christian religion. I grew up around many religious people and I know not all Christian people are like that. Leading by kindness and acceptance changes the world and I hope that people who spread hate will one day realize this. We may never be able to take out hate speech out of the constitution, but we can at least try to take it out of our mouths.
