In the United States, the first amendment protects the right to freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, freedom of the press, and the freedom of speech. However, surrounding these liberties are regulations and limitations. The question we must ask is to what extent are our rights to free speech and press protected?
A recent issue as to whether Holocaust denial comments on facebook should be taken down has grown very controversial over the past week. CEO of facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, argued against doing so while Jewish groups, anti defamation societies, and Holocaust experts insisted upon it. Currently, a petition is being signed to support the deleting of anti-semitic Holocaust denying posts.
American society today, there are minimal restrictions to free speech. Yelling fire in the middle of a crowd when there evidently isn’t one, is strictly illegal; this would be known as “to incite actions that would harm others.” However, in regards to hate speech, there are no laws in the United States respecting this matter. Although the right to free speech and press is extremely valuable, it also has the power to destroy.
In the early 1930’s Hitler began speaking in pubs among other public areas preaching the ideas mentioned in his book, Mein Kampf. He slandered the Treaty of Versailles, blamed the Jews and communists for all Germany’s problems, and passionately expressed the purity and greatness of the “pure Aryan race.” In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that “…the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew.” In various speeches, he asserted messages such as: “Even when we have driven the Jew out of Germany, he remains our world enemy” or “The Jew…. works unproductively using and enjoying other people’s work. And thus we understand…’The Jew is the ferment of decomposition in peoples,’ that means that the Jew destroys and must destroy…he completely lacks the conception of an activity which builds up the life of the community…” (archive.org). This hateful rhetoric entertwined with the installation of fear in German society resulted in the brainwashing of most of the German public– the transmission of racist ideals being passed through generations.
The campaign trail for Mr. Trump during the 2016 election proved to show the extents to free speech. Our president’s strong words and charismatic approaches to gaining public appeal proved to be effective through his rallying on his campaign trail. The Miami Herald reported that in reference to refugees, Mr. Trump said “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people, these are animals…” Our current administrator also asserted in 2015: “They’re (immigrants) taking our jobs. They’re taking our manufacturing jobs. They’re taking our money. They’re killing us.” He also generalized that Mexicans were “criminals” and “rapists.” This level of hate speech is terrifyingly similar to the levels of Adolf Hitler’s. Regardless if Mr. Trump was elected legitimately or not, his approval rating currently stands at 51% (Washington Examiner). This conveys that a majority of this nation is in approval of the hateful rhetoric our leader preaches; this majority is indifferent, and is therefore ignorant to the destruction that this may lead to.
Due to the current situation and the pollution of societies with racist commentary, discriminating against Muslims, Mexicans, African Americans, Jews, etc. it is imperative that we consider our actions; doing nothing is not the solution. If we continue allowing the penetration of hate speech to the next generations, the impacts could be dire: we’ve already witnessed them. Holocaust denial augmented by hate speech is indeed a preface to something catastrophic.
Signing this petition may not directly result in change, but it is a step to uniting a powerful opinion. We hope Mr. Zuckerberg reconsiders after seeing the accumulation of signatures opposed to his refusal to take down these hateful comments.
Sign petition here: https://www.change.org/p/mark-zuckerberg-remove-holocaust-denial-pages-from-facebook
