Namaste all,
there were enough choices to choose the one that i would have.
if it were listed, i would have chosen:
yes, it's legal. you cannot engage in hate speech that inflames or incites or encourages others to commit crimes. to do so would violate the same constution that this form of speech is protected in.
in any event, the real world implementation of such a law is quite varied. in many countries, dissenting speech is not permitted at all and hate speech isn't really considered hate speech, for the entire populace (or a great majority of it) share the feeling towards the object of their hatred.
so.. i'll presume that we are confining the discussion to America.
the question, to me, is really where do individual rights stop and collective rights begin? or... when two individuals are exercising their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.. and they choose conflicting modes of happiness, how is it determined who's rights have more weight?
for instance. let's say for sake of argument that my neighbor and i each like music and we each have equally loud stereo systems. i happen to enjoy classical music and my neighbor happens to enjoy blue grass. my neighbor has a friend over and they decide to play their blue grass, which i don't enjoy, very loudly.. so loudly that for me to hear my music, i must turn it up so loudly that others on my street can hear my music.
do those that are forced to listen to my music have any right to have me stop playing it or turn it down? let's presume that it is prior to the county noise laws going into effect.
what if the music is gangsta rap (which i do enjoy) and is full of curse words and so forth. do my neighbors, who don't want young johnny to learn how to say "bring my my money, b**ch". do they have any say over what i can do there?
it's all really quite fascinating, in my opinion.