It’s time for the United States to ban hate speech

In her Aug. 14 column on free speech and the need for free debate, Susan Estrich makes many good points. However, I suspect that she does not see the dangers of false equivalencies.

She cites having had the experience of taking the side of the rapist in presenting all views to her students. While laudable, can we really see any way in which a real rapist has any views laudable enough to represent? I don’t think so. What the accused rapist has is a right to good legal defense, and his views should certainly be entertained until he is proven to be a rapist beyond any reasonable doubt. At that time, the only thing left to decide is the sentence.

Too many people believe that all views, no matter how hateful, have protection under the First Amendment. Some hate speech simply doesn’t. I submit that racial hate speech — speech against people simply because of the color of their skin, their nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation — is just such speech.

All of this in some sense comes down to protection of the minority against the abuse of the majority. Look at it this way: Was it not a concern for the protection of the minority that generated the Bill of Rights in the first place? And, of course, free speech protections are enshrined in the very first amendment within this Bill of Rights.

In my mind, there is something morally wrong in treating all views as equally protected by the First Amendment. Any speech that is logically inimical to the rights of the minority should not have such protection.