Karen Selick looks on the bright side of hate speech
Posted: June 26,
2008, 5:33 PM by Marni Soupcoff
There’s
been plenty of discussion lately about the harmful consequences of censorship
— the extra publicity that hate speech gets when prosecuted, the chilling
of legitimate debate and the dangers of slippery slopes.
However,
I think a case can be made that allowing the publication of repugnant remarks
about minority groups might actually have positive benefits for society.
When the
Supreme Court of Canada pronounced Canada’s censorship laws
constitutional in 1990, they argued that hate speech “contributes little
to the aspirations of Canadians or Canada in the quest for truth, the promotion
of individual self-development or the protection and fostering of a vibrant
democracy where the participation of all individuals is accepted and
encouraged.”
I think
the court showed a lack of imagination: Hate speech can indeed contribute to
fulfilling these desirable goals.
I’d
love to use a real-life example, but the activities of human rights commissions
have already slid too far down the slippery slope for my tastes, so I dare not.
Instead, consider the fictitious aliens portrayed on the Star Trek television
series, the Ferengi. If ever there were a group deserving of contempt, the
Ferengi would be it. They are unrepentantly deceitful, scheming, cheating,
money-grubbing, obsequious, obnoxious scoundrels. Their written code of conduct
explicitly promotes dishonesty.
Are these
hateful comments? If I wrote such things about any real group in
But
suppose Ferengis really existed and immigrated to
Instead,
people would surreptitiously avoid dealing with them in whatever subtle ways
were possible without triggering a discrimination complaint.
There are
three possibilities about the televised portrayal of Ferengis: it might be true
for all Ferengis, it might be false for all Ferengis or it might be true for
some Ferengis and false for others. In each case, allowing people to make
disparaging comments like the ones I made above would offer benefits the
Supreme Court apparently couldn’t imagine.
—
First case: The televised portrayal is true of all Ferengis. If no one ever
told them, the Ferengi would go on being contemptible crooks — and having
difficulty getting jobs, housing and services — because nobody would have
ever made them aware of what humans find intolerable about them. Both Ferengis
and humans would be worse off — the Ferengis because they would be
despised, and the humans because we would have to live with such despicable
creatures in our midst. If humans could tell Ferengis what we disapprove of and
what we consider acceptable, Ferengis could change their conduct. Memo to the
Supreme Court — this would promote self-development and participation in
society.
—
Second case: The televised portrayal is false of all Ferengis. Ferengis are
actually truthful, honourable beings who have been viciously maligned by the TV
show. If no earthling ever articulates the lies we have all swallowed, Ferengis
will never have the opportunity to rebut them. Memo to the Supreme Court
— the quest for truth would be better served by shining a spotlight on
the cruel fabrications and letting Ferengi spokesmen demolish them.
—
Third case: The TV portrayal is true of some Ferengis but not of others. Good
Ferengis would not want to be tarred with the same brush as bad ones. The
honourable ones would start putting pressure on their crooked compatriots to
straighten up — but only if they were aware that they were in fact being
lumped together in the minds of humans, and only if they knew what the
humans’ complaints were. Silencing the “hate speech” would
simply deny them that information. The people they really need to confront are
not the bearers of bad tidings, but the bad apples in their own barrel. They
need to say, “Liars and thieves are not welcome in our community. You are
giving the rest of us a bad name. Shape up or we will shun you even more
determinedly than humans do.” Memo to the Supreme Court — well,
surely you can figure it out by now.
No doubt
after the falsehoods have been thoroughly rebutted and the bad Ferengis have
reformed, there will still be the occasional recalcitrant bigot who would
irrationally continue to hate Ferengis. But that’s when freedom of speech
will be the most valuable of all. Ferengis will want to avoid dealing with such
irrational individuals even more than the bigots want to avoid Ferengis. And so
will other righteous humans. Let the bigots identify themselves, and let them
suffer the consequences.
— Karen
Selick is a lawyer in
—