Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech
Onder Bakircioglu · bepress Legal Repository · 2008
Not very long ago, it was believed that the sun rotated around the earth, that unicorns existed, toads were poisonous, and that there could be no men living in the antipodes as it was believed they would fall off.Not until the 1 6 th Century was the efficacy of witchcraft questioned, and those who dared to question this superstition were burned at the stake.2 Similarly, the legitimacy of servitude was not questioned for many centuries.All these absolute doctrines are discarded and new truths have replaced the old ones.No doubt, some of today's truths will share the same fate one day.Moreover, some scholars who are now universally acknowledged to be remarkably virtuous were condemned or dishonoured in their own time.Socrates, for instance, was condemned to drink the hemlock because of his unorthodox views.Giordano Bruno was burnt alive by the Inquisition.Servetus Michael was branded as a heretic and executed by Calvinists. 3 In short, throughout history, those who held untraditional views were despised and silenced.This, to a certain extent, holds true even today, although the methods of * Onder Bakircioglu, lecturer in law, Queen's University Belfast.