|
One major flaw in your plan, Ace, is that it is predicated on the assumption that people (maybe even most people) don't know when their fears are irrational. From my experience people know damn good and well when they have racist views and they keep them willingly because they find them gratifying. Perhaps it gives them a false sense of control over their environment...free from being at the mercy of random, unforeseeable circumstances. But you see people hang onto these assumptions beyond all reason and in the face of overwhelming evidence against them. It is deliberate. I don't think you can 'educate' these people away from their prejudices. They like having them.
I haven't given a lot of thought to hate speech legislation before, but one immediate benefit that comes to mind would be that it sets a very clear and definitive standard for American public dialogue, esp. on the airwaves. It will not, of course, stop people from believing what ever stupid shit they want to believe, but it will prevent them from going on the air and trying to influence others with their poisonous talk. I have no problem whatsoever with America having a standard that says, this is what America is about when it comes to hate. They learned a good lesson on this subject in Rwanda.
__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
|