In today’s world, hate speech can be found with ease; you can witness it over coffee, a celebrity you follow can share hateful tweets, or a public demonstration can get out of hand. With hate seemingly running rampant, we must question what actions to take in order to resolve this issue, and how to do so without undermining the First Amendment. Hate speech, despite some negative effects, does not need further legislation enacted, as it is already addressed by several laws in place. The eradication of hate speech requires a larger social change before we can introduce further legislation. While the First Amendment protects the fundamental right of free speech, there are exceptions to this right that are currently regulated. The First Amendment protects the freedom of speech and expression; its goal is to keep the government from compromising free speech or punishing someone for the content of speech. However, there are …show more content…
In his writings, Minos, Gorgias, and Laws, Ancient Greek philosopher Plato argued that three principle virtues of courage, wisdom, and compassion were what brought about true happiness in life, and also acted as a way of solving many societal issues. A strict adherence to these virtues would lead Americans to true happiness as well as make hate speech a thing of the past, for no compassion can be found in degrading and spurning your fellow man. Aristotle, one of Plato’s students, strongly felt wrong-doers were not evil, but merely needed to be educated about the significance of the virtues. Thus, schools and parents should begin to seriously consider the importance of teaching virtues, as a way to prevent people from treating each other poorly throughout their lives. Only once this has been established, legislation that will aim to teach those who spew hate speech the way of virtue can be