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Destructive Messages: How Hate Speech Paves the Way For Harmful Social Movements
Destructive Messages argues that hate speech is dangerous not only when it poses an immediate threat of harm. It is also dangerous when it is systematically developed over time, becoming part of a culturally acceptable dialogue which can foster the persecution of minorities.
Tsesis traces a causal link between racist and biased rhetoric and injustices like genocide and slavery. He shows that hate speech and propaganda, when left unregulated, can weave animosity into the social fabric to such a great extent that it can cultivate an environment supportive of the commission of hate crimes. Tsesis uses historical examples to illuminate the central role racist speech played in encouraging attitudes that led to human rights violations against German Jews, Native Americans, and African Americans, and also discusses the dangers posed by hate speech spread on the Internet today. He also offers an examination of the psychology of scapegoating.
Destructive Messages argues that when hate speech is systematically developed over time it poses an even greater threat than when it creates an immediate clear and present danger. Tsesis offers concrete suggestions concerning how to reform current law in order to protect the rights of all citizens.
Tsesis traces a causal link between racist and biased rhetoric and injustices like genocide and slavery. He shows that hate speech and propaganda, when left unregulated, can weave animosity into the social fabric to such a great extent that it can cultivate an environment supportive of the commission of hate crimes. Tsesis uses historical examples to illuminate the central role racist speech played in encouraging attitudes that led to human rights violations against German Jews, Native Americans, and African Americans, and also discusses the dangers posed by hate speech spread on the Internet today. He also offers an examination of the psychology of scapegoating.
Destructive Messages argues that when hate speech is systematically developed over time it poses an even greater threat than when it creates an immediate clear and present danger. Tsesis offers concrete suggestions concerning how to reform current law in order to protect the rights of all citizens.
246 pages, Hardcover
First published August 19, 2002
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January 8, 2010
Tsesis' view of the First Amendment may be an frequently ignored minority position, but it is one that warrants more attention.
Pointing to history, sociology, and case law, he makes a convincing case that hate speech is harmful and dangerous ("prejudicial speech initiates, perpetuates, and aggravates socially accepted misrepresentation about outgroups [...:] the greater the barrage of misethnic and subordinating stereotypes, the more likely it is that persons with intense hatreds will release their pent-up frustrations and angers on vulnerable minorities"), that "Hate speech, like defamation, can be limited without violating the First Amendment" (135), and that the United States' current position on hate speech is blind and backward when compared to much of the rest of the world (192).
That being said, the book is dense, repetitious, and sometimes dull. I would strongly recommend reading Tsesis' article "Dignity and Speech: The Regulation of Speech in a Democracy" (44 Wake Forest Law Review 497 [2009:]) instead for a more readable approach to the same arguments.
Pointing to history, sociology, and case law, he makes a convincing case that hate speech is harmful and dangerous ("prejudicial speech initiates, perpetuates, and aggravates socially accepted misrepresentation about outgroups [...:] the greater the barrage of misethnic and subordinating stereotypes, the more likely it is that persons with intense hatreds will release their pent-up frustrations and angers on vulnerable minorities"), that "Hate speech, like defamation, can be limited without violating the First Amendment" (135), and that the United States' current position on hate speech is blind and backward when compared to much of the rest of the world (192).
That being said, the book is dense, repetitious, and sometimes dull. I would strongly recommend reading Tsesis' article "Dignity and Speech: The Regulation of Speech in a Democracy" (44 Wake Forest Law Review 497 [2009:]) instead for a more readable approach to the same arguments.
Displaying 1 of 1 review