The United States of America has always been built on the idea that every person has a right to express their opinion, no matter what that may be. The term "freedom of speech" has almost become a cliche because of the amount we Americans discuss its importance in our society. However, since the integration of the internet into our society, the ideal of freedom of speech has been put to the test. Because the internet is not regulated, a person can publish a web site saying anything, and many people do. People take the freedom of the internet to publish lewd websites, websites telling all of off the wall conspiricy theories, and, perhaps the most dangerous websites of them all, hate websites
While the United States of America has always prided itself on the deals of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, that has never meant that American citizens can say what they want, whenever they want. People have always had a right to express their opinions in a peaceful, intelligent way. But the ethic of freedom of speech becomes meaningless when violence becomes involved.
The number of hate groups in the United States is somewhere between 3000 and 10,000, a relatively small number. However, the internet has given these groups a much larger voice and audience, and in a day when the number of hate crimes are skyrocketing, the fear is that this voice will become too powerful, thus leading to violence.
Groups like the Westburough Church, which runs the website GodHatesFags.com, openly condone violence against specific groups. The Westburough Church specifically runsan image of a person urinating on Matthew Shepard, the gay student who was brutally beaten to death, with the caption, "Mattew Shepard: BURN IN HELL!" While the Westburough Church never was linked to the death of Matthew Shepard, others feel that their site will contribute to violence in the future.
While proponents of allowing hate material on the internet say that this form of expression is protected by the first amendment, many of these web sites go way beyond just the expression of an opinion. If a white person was to go up to an African American person and say something threatening to him while using racial slurs, that person could be arrested and charged with assault. So why then can web sites which blatantly advocate violence against a group of people have absolutely no restrictions on what they can and cannot say? Every form of information or entertainment has some form of censorship. On network television swear words and gratuitous violence cannot be shown. Movies must have ratings which warn and sometimes prevent children from entering the theater. Musical albums with explicit content must contain a warning label. However, the internet, perhaps the most accessible form of entertainment/information in modern society, has no restrictions for content, no identification checks to make sure underage people are not looking at adult material. Hate groups are also not held accountable for the "facts" in which they provide to prove their point. Many groups, such as The World Church of the Creator, make outragous claims and take them as fact.
T.J. Leyden
Hate groups, according to T.J. Leyden, a former skinhead who now works in the Simon Weisenthal Center of tolerence, target young kids. When these groups are allowed to say whatever they want to whoever they want, it allows the recruitment to be that much easier. Hate sites on the internet are a danger to the youth of America and must be stopped.
In the end, taking hate groups off the internet would not be that difficult. The internet is run by private servers who could remove these sites at any time. If these sites had any decency, the would do just that.
The Salt Lake Tribune - An article arguing that the websites "godhatesfags.com" advocates violence against gays. The Economist- An article talking dealing with the legal ramifications that hate websites face when they promote violence |
Simon Weisenthal Center - A website dedicated to social tolerance. hatewatch.org- a group dedicated to keeping track of hate groups |
