People protest hate speech on February 1, 2017, in Berkeley, California. Photo by: AP Photo/Ben Margot
Hate speech is words or expressions used to bring down a person. The target of the speech belongs to a certain social group. That group may be a certain race, from a certain country or have a certain sexual orientation. It may be that they follow a certain religion, are a certain age, have a physical or mental disability or something else.

Hate speech involves cruel words known as slurs. Someone might use hate speech in order to convince other people to hate or attack a certain group.

Some hate speech involves cruel stereotypes. A stereotype is unfairly believing that all people of one group are a certain way.

Swastikas And The Confederate Flag

Hate speech can also include pictures and symbols. For example, the Nazi swastika is considered hate speech by many people. It was shown on German Nazi flags in World War II.

The Confederate flag is also considered hate speech by some. The Confederacy was formed by a group of Southern states that broke away from the United States. They separated from the North to keep owning black people as slaves. This led to the Civil War.

People against hate speech argue that it causes emotional pain for its victims. It could also cause violence against them. They also say that it makes its victims less equal in society. That is particularly true, they claim, because hate speech is usually directed at people who already have less power in society.

Hate speech is a challenge for countries today. Free, democratic nations, like the United States, believe that all people are equal. However, they also believe that people should be free to express themselves and their feelings.

Censorship Is Not Good

So, there is a constant debate in these societies: Should hate speech be controlled or punished by the government? If so, how?

In many democratic societies, all speech is usually allowed — even hate speech. A person may be disgusted by hate speech. But they may think that it is worse to not allow people to speak their mind. They do not want the government to censor people for saying what they feel.

Censorship is when the government blocks people from saying, writing, watching or reading certain things.

People worry that a government using censorship might do it unfairly. For example, in some nondemocratic countries, the government does not allow anyone to criticize the government. This kind of censorship is considered wrong by most people in free societies today. In democracies, it is important and acceptable to criticize the government.

Hate Begets Hate

Some people argue that the best way to fight hate speech is to point out how wrong and false it is. In this free society, there's an "open exchange of ideas." This means that all ideas should be discussed and debated. Then society agrees about what ideas it wants or doesn't want.

Some people believe that hate speech should be censored. They point out that even in free societies, not all people and groups have equal power. The "open exchange of ideas" doesn't recognize the fact that some groups have less power. They could get hurt because of hate speech.

Many people say that when hate speech is aimed at some groups, such as people of color, it is not just insulting. It also continues unfair treatment. It causes the victims and the rest of society to absorb the hateful messages and act on that hate.

Hate Speech Usually Cannot Be Blocked

Victims of hate speech cannot speak as freely to defend themselves. For them, hate speech is part of a larger system of being treated unfairly. Hate speech just causes more problems for the victims, and basically silences them.

The United States protects freedom of speech in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Sometimes, court cases come up that ask whether hate speech should or should not be censored. In general, the court has said hate speech cannot be blocked. Hate speech is usually only illegal if it is being used to cause immediate violence or danger to a person or group.

Other free democracies, such as France, Germany and Canada, have laws designed to stop some hate speech. Many of these laws were passed because of the Holocaust in World War II.

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