Free Talk Live

The Harm in Hate-Speech Laws

by David Gordon

Recently by David Gordon: Ralph Raico on Authentic Liberalism

The Harm in Hate Speech • By Jeremy Waldron • Harvard University Press, 2012 • vi + 292 pages

In many countries, though not in the United States, laws prohibit "hate speech." Those who, in Jeremy Waldron's opinion, uncritically elevate the benefits of free speech over competing values oppose hate-speech laws; but Waldron thinks that a strong case can be made in their favor. (Waldron thinks that there are "very few First Amendment Absolutists" [p. 144] who oppose all regulation of speech; but he thinks that many other First Amendment scholars are unduly critical of hate speech regulations.)