Stop the hate

Hate speech walks a very fine line between both sides of the law. Hate speech is allowed when it does not incite violence or prejudicial actions against others. This means that anyone can spew out racist, homophobic, sexist, or any other disparaging comments without fear of consequences because they are protected under the US’ first Amendment to freedom of speech. There are websites that are dedicated to spreading hateful messages commonly known as hate sites. There is much debate on whether to censor the Internet or not, and how. I personally feel that anything that is intended to inflict any harm on another should be illegal. No one has the right to advocate hate. We all deserve to be treated with respect or be left alone. So many young teens are committing suicide because they are not mentally prepared to deal with such issues as hate speech. What a terrible ordeal to have to be discovering your sexuality while being accosted for it before even being able to fully understand it yourself. People should always have the right to disagree and uphold their personal beliefs; but they should not be able to stop you from existing simply because you feel, look, believe, or act differently. We need to do our part and confront hate speech head on. Every single time it is spoken in our presence we need to call the person on it and let them know that it is unacceptable. It won’t work every time, but at least it is a start.