Freedom of speech and hate speech are often believed to be the same thing. In reality, however, they’re not. Although there are many things you can say without there being a punishment, freedom of speech doesn’t mean that you can say whatever you want. It means that your right to say something is protected within certain limits, which is why a lot of people don’t understand that by legal definition, hate speech is speech that is meant to offend, insult, or intimidate someone based on their religion, sex, national origin, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Which is why many people fit into the category of hate speech.

People of color and the LGBTQ+ community are the most at risk of receiving hate speech, due to widespread prejudice against these groups. Hate speech has the potential of causing serious harm to the person being attacked since the verbal accusations have the potential to lead to physical violence. Also, even if it doesn’t lead to physical harm, it can still have a negative impact on the victims. Hate speech can make the victim feel ashamed, angry, or upset. We’re all entitled to our own opinions but that doesn’t give us the right to dehumanize or discriminate others solely because we don’t agree on their beliefs or because we don’t like that they are of another race.

People speaking with hatred and threats shouldn’t be allowed to call their speech “free.” Their speech should be viewed as hateful, vile, inappropriate, and unacceptable. As a society, we shouldn’t allow people’s disgusting behavior to pass without punishment. This can’t keep continuing while we do nothing about. As long as hate speech continues, it puts innocent people in danger. If we stand back and watch it happen without doing something, it’s only going to get worse. More people are going to assume that if one person can do it, they can too.

The majority of people in the U.S believe that their right to free speech allows them to attack others based on that person’s characteristic and that they can get away with hateful accusations because they believe that it’s within their right of free speech. However, they are incorrect. Their right to free speech does not include being hateful towards or threatening others.

The idea that hate speech is relatively the same as free speech needs to change. Once this change occurs, society will start to become a better version of itself.