Hate speech

Revision as of 06:27, 27 July 2004 by 142.177.106.177 (talk) (we need exact coverage of this stuff in case it shows up in published comments)
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Hate speech is a legally defined term that means "a crime" in many countries. It implies trying to create hate against a specific ethnic or religious group, or other recognizable minority community. Professions or clubs or groups that one associates with voluntarily do NOT count, under any circumstances, as hate speech: it is always entirely legal to say that a group or profession abuses its priveleges or powers, EVEN if that group has a strong correlation to a specific ethnic or religious group. Accordingly it is not hate speech to claim that the USA is run by Stupid White Men, as Michael Moore claimed in his book of that name.

Name-calling is much less serious than hate speech. It is not illegal unless the "name" implies a crime, e.g. "murderer", "thief", "fraud". If that name implying a crime is applied to an entire group, it may be hate speech by some definitions, e.g. "all Jews are murderers: they killed Jesus."