Shooting at Geller Hate-a-Thon Shows the Need for a Hate Speech Law in the US

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Wednesday May 06, 2015 · 10:49 PM PDT

2015/05/06 · 22:49

On Sunday, April 3rd, 2015, notorious right-wing hatemonger Pamela Geller hosted an anti-Islam event with the sole purpose of inciting racist hatred and violence against Muslims. A vile and grotesque assault on the basic human rights and human dignity of Muslims which clearly has no place in a modern democracy, the event had contestants "draw Muhammad", with the "best" drawing receiving a $10,000 prize. To the cheers of right-wing bigots across the country, two radical Muslim men attempted to shoot up the event before being swiftly shot and killed themselves. This event brings to the forefront one of America's biggest human rights failures: the fact that America is the only country in the world which lacks any kind of legal protections against hate speech. The fact that America values the so-called "right" to spew racist hatred to be more important than basic human rights does a great deal of damage to America's international image. After all, what kind of government values the rights of racist bigots more than it values the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized minority groups?

TanyaCohen1

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Thursday January 01, 2015 · 9:44 PM PST

2015/01/01 · 21:44

Due to their insistence that "freedom of speech" includes the right to spout hatred and discrimination, Reddit has gained notoriety as a home for numerous racists, misogynists, homophobes, transphobes, and other bigots, who group together and create subreddit communities dedicated to inciting hatred and violence against marginalized groups. A group known as the "Squatzis" are known to "squat" on subreddits with names related to racial issues - these users have taken the subreddits /r/holocaust, /r/TrayvonMartin, and /r/ferguson, among others. This group of neo-Nazis quickly snatch up subreddits like these so that other people - who aren't Nazis - won't get to use them.

Recently, however, these people have been ramping up their efforts.

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