Is Hate Speech in the Media Directly Affecting Our Culture?

"Hate speech" often means different things to different people. Although the First Amendment to the Constitution ensures freedom of speech, in general, hate speech is exempted from the First Amendment. The term is meant to convey the deliberate bias toward and discrimination against persons that could be incited because f the form of speech. Hate speech is almost always evaluated based upon the context in which it is presented. This definition becomes more unclear when we think of the political ideology behind criticizing others, or the levels to which persuasive tactics may hide the actual intention of hate. Information and entertainment media normalize a culture of cruelty by discussing meanness and power in entertaining ways.

Georgie Ann Weatherby and Brian Scoggins, who represent the no side to this issue, investigated how four white supremacist Web sites present information that may appear benign but mask the ideologies of the groups they present. By presenting their ideas to the mainstream society, these groups attempt to gain compliance from persons who may be recruited to the extremist group's side.

Our history in the US of hate speech legislation often is targeted toward groups that exhibit bigotry or contempt for racial, ethnic, religious, or gender groups. We have had a long history of extremist groups of all kinds, hoping to se the media to defend their positions and recruit new members.

I think that we should have the freedom of speech, but to a certain extent. The issue of free speech has become even more extreme in the case of the Internet, where there is so much freedom to post information. In both mainstream media and on the Internet where extremist Web sites exist, we can see how hate speech is sanctioned, practiced, and in some cases, endorsed by the public.