Within the free speech movement, there is a small set of individuals that refer to themselves as ‘free speech absolutists.’ This is a title we should all proudly embrace, even though some would argue these people are endangering democracy.
A free speech absolutist supports free speech in every possible way, rejecting any exceptions to the rule. Once an exception to the rule is introduced, this paves the way for other exceptions, including those that can be expanded and exploited, like an exception for so-called ‘hate speech’.
The exception for hate speech is at the core of the free speech debate. The more radical authoritarians seek to exploit the rule by including offensive words, microaggressions, and other relatively harmless words under the hate speech label. The absurdity of declaring words as hateful based on something as subjective as offense is quite clear to anyone that values freedom of speech.
...The most commonly accepted forms of hate speech are calls for acts of physical violence. For legitimate cases of people clearly and willingly advocating direct violence (as opposed to actions that some would consider indirect forms of violence, like taxation or ownership of violence), this is not a free speech issue. The problem is not the speech itself, but the violence resulting from it.
If an individual were to openly recommend that his or her listeners initiate violence against a person or group, the crime itself is the violence that results. The person speaking is intentionally causing violence, and can thus be held responsible for the violence that results from this. Again, the crime in this case is violence, not speech. This situation is similar to if a person hired an assassin to kill someone. The act of murder still falls upon the person hiring the assassin. But just because a verbal order is involved does not mean this is a free speech issue....