The Benefits of Banning Hate Speech and Pornography
James Weinstein · 2018
Assessing the benefits of hate speech and pornography bans involves two related yet separate inquiries: an evaluation of the harms possibly caused by this speech and a prediction of the effectiveness of the prohibition. The hate speech and pornography are significant causes of the devaluing and in some cases actual stifling of the voices of women and minorities. The most obvious harm of hate speech is that it is deeply offensive and insulting, particularly to members of the groups attacked by such propaganda. The racist propaganda is a major cause of racist beliefs and that pornography causes men to have sexist beliefs about women. Racist propaganda is often defamatory in that it contains scurrilous lies about members of racial or ethnic groups. To the extent that this expression causes offense, insult, psychic injury, self-hate, or acts of discrimination against members of the defamed group, these harms overlap with those just described.