Physical assault is a crime, so why not verbal assault? Telling a group of people that they are selfish, lazy, stupid, evil etc just for being in that group is abusive and serves no purpose. It needs to be stopped. I know that the main driving force in allowing hate speech is that there are groups of people out there who mistake opinion for fact. Allowing this type of speech to continue just propagates the myth that my opinions are more valuable than your right not to be attacked.
Yes, hate speech should be considered a crime. The purpose of hate speech is to seek violence or harm upon the group that is being spoken against. As such, this causes a violation of that group's rights. Freedom of speech is important, but that freedom ends when violence or harm is being wished upon a group.
However, hate speech can also be a Muslim extremist standing outside a mosque, denouncing the West, whipping up support for al-Qaeda and urging the crowd to join the Jihad and attack infidels and moderate Muslims who allow their wives to leave the house unaccompanied and send their daughters to school. Such speech has led to much violence here in Britain and many people have suffered as a result, but these hate preachers are protected by their right to free speech.
While some rigorous standards would have to be applied, American law ought to recognize hate speech as a unique form of communication that has the effect of inciting violence and creating societal harm. In most cases, speech that has a specific target and an indisputably hateful or violent goal is recognizable for what it is.
Everyday people go around saying things based off of emotions or experiences. Why should people be limited on how they express themselves. I think that it is pretty sad how african americans can call each other the "N" word without taking it offensively but when a white person or a latin person calls them that they get upset. But such as the story goes. If people were to criminalize speech, prisons would be flooded with people who just said something that someone else didn't appreciate or agree with. I think that it is very disappointing that people would be so sensitive to words. It's like the saying sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, has been completely forgotten. I can't recall a time where words killed anyone. People kill people, people hurt people and people hurt themselves words are nothing but exhausted oxygen that can go through one ear and out the other.
If you want hate speech to be considered a crime you're going to infringe on many people's rights, as what a person considers "hate speech" is relative. If I believe your pronunciation of a word is wrong and I feel offended then I guess that's hate speech because I said so. Unless there's going to be a codified list that every single individual agrees upon unanimously and new words are voted in, then sure, make hate speech illegal. I also find it funny that those who support movements such as this are a-ok with anti-Christian, anti-white, anti-"majority" speech and sentiment, but god forbid anti-semitic, "islamophobic", homophobic, anti-black, etc. Speech. I am not speaking as a victim, but I find the hypocrisy outrageous. I don't condone any discrimination, but once someone considers my assumption on something that should be obvious like gender to be offensive and that I can be charged for it is outright outrageous. This notion disgusts me in every which way—socially and legally.
Hate speech may be unpopular. It may be controversial. But do we have to listen to it? Yes. Should we stop it? No. Because, although there are certain restrictions on freedom of speech (e.g. intentionally causing a panic in a public place) hate speech does not violate our constitution. And as Americans who want to keep our constitution alive, we need to allow certain words to be said.
A crime? What are we a dictatorship? Hate is wrong and downright discriminating and dangerous, but if you want to make it illegal, you might as well start a dictatorship. People have the right to say and do as they please. It's in the constitution. Although this is border-line life threatening, it is an uncontrolled offense. Every high school student would be in juvenile detention and the majority of all adults would be in jail. Rah person has feelings and openly shares them with one or multiple people. It is a part of the disgusting side of humanity, but it is what it is. That's what anti-hate, pro-life, pro-homosexual, pro-equality, and anti-racism, bullying, etc organizations are for. They help stop these hateful acts, but you can't control it by putting the whole world in jail. It's unethical, unconstitutional, and unreasonable.
What would consist of hate speech? Would it be tone, words, what? Not to mention like it or not the Constitution decrees freedom of speech, so how could a right be illegal? Although it sounds nice to have everyone speaking nicely to each other, it would limit how we can interact with each other. No one has a right to be liked by me.
Hatred is not a crime, rightfully so. Everyone has hated someone at some point. Speech is not a crime. So why should hate speech be a crime? If you don't agree with the person spewing hatred, ignore them. Don't throw them in jail.
Secondly, if it were a crime, where do you draw the line? Is a child who's angry at its parents and says, "I hate you!" using hate speech? Is a wife who's mad at her husband and says "men are pigs"? The waters begin to get very muddy with person feeling and bias at that point.