Freedom of Speech or Freedom to Hate?

No doubt, we have every right to express ourselves as humans. We also have the right to agree or disagree with people, criticize our government, and rant and complain about the bad situations we are experiencing or even release words someone close may not like, all for freedom of speech.

But hold on, there is a big question there: does freedom of speech also mean that we have a total right to say anything we wish, whether it kills a heart or not? Where do we really draw the line?

While, I was reading a comment on Facebook the other day under a post, someone made a hateful comment against a particular tribe and religion. It was plain text without any laughing emoji. Maybe we should think he was joking, so the plain text means he meant every word he said. While some people laughed over his comment, others supported him, and before I could blink my eyes, there were hundreds of people using hate speech against the said particular people.

Okay, let's imagine this comment: "People from Hausa are all thieves. Don't ever employ them in your establishment or risk the company going down the drain." With this comment, obviously, nobody was attacked or beaten physically, and neither did any property get destroyed, but let's be realistic: has anyone been harmed by that comment?

That's where this subject for discussion gets more complicated in my own view. A lot of times, our words can influence others negatively even without leaving a mark; it can affect how people treat others. Here in my country, we have different tribes, different languages, and different religions, and over the years, hateful words have brought division among us, unnecessary division .

As simple as a joke that is supposed to be harmless can send a negative message to a hearer who may have experienced discrimination in the past, and nowadays, social media has been an agent of discrimination. a platform where we easily experience hate speech because it's quite easy for someone at the comfort of her home to type hate speech and post it, and within minutes, a lot of people have seen it, and it keeps spreading for bad.

Should we now protect such speech because the person was expressing himself? Or do you think there is a point we can say, "No, you went too far"?

Well, I think as much as freedom of speech is important, we must also be responsible with our words. It might be difficult to find balance, but it's necessary. We can feel free to disagree with people without making them feel less human. We can also criticize without encouraging hatred at the same time. We can also feel free to express our anger without making a group of people look like they are the enemies.

This is because, the moment we start believing that certain groups aren't good enough and keep spreading it with our words, it will end up creating troubles in our society. Words can make or break us, so choosing to be responsible with our words is the goal.

Having shared my thoughts, I would love to leave you with these questions. Do you think if all of us have the right to free speech, then hate speech should be subject to criminal prosecution? What if no one is harmed directly from the word, but the hate word is obviously hateful? Should such words be protected under the freedom of speech we have as citizens? Where should we actually draw the line?

Image was created using Gemini Ai