Quote:
Originally Posted by s_stabeler
there's also the fact that censoring the entire idea- that is, when "that's racist" is enough to shut down the argument completely- runs the risk of allowing bigots to use the "what the man doesn't want you to know" argument to encourage people to believe their bullshit.
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That's a good point, yes.
This article here has a few more arguments as to why even hateful speech shouldn't be censored. The best one is #4:
4) Censoring Nazis would weaken public virtue
Basically, the argument goes that suppressing unwanted speech not only silences the individual making the speech - without actually challenging his position to maybe make him change his mind - but also that the rest of society is weakened by it. We, as society, are absolved of having to think about possible bigotry ourselves, of having to make up our own mind about right and wrong, because someone else already decided that this particular idea is wrong. Not to mention that the bigotry is still there, festering, spreading in secret.
Honestly. what would've happened if nobody had actually gone to that rally in Charlottesville? If a few thousand right-wing nut jobs had just held their walk and talk, with no one there to watch? Would people even be talking about this? Would they have gotten this kind of publicity?
IMO, the best way to combat the views these people hold would've been to hold a counterprotest somewhere at the other end of the city, with no contact between the two groups. That way, the right-wingers can't claim that they were harassed, or attacked, and the people protesting could've still shown that their message has a lot more followers. It might even have been possible to discuss the removal of the statue on its own merit.