Hate Speech

An investigation of hate speech: legal approaches, current controversies, and suggestions for limiting its spread.

Hate speech can happen anywhere--in Charlottesville, Virginia, where young men in khakis shouted, "Jews will not replace us"; in Myanmar, where the military used Facebook to target the Muslim Rohingya; in Capetown, South Africa, where a pastor called on ISIS to rid South Africa of the "homosexual curse." In person or online, people wield language to attack others for their race, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or other aspects of identity. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series examines hate speech: what it is, and is not; its history; and efforts to address it.

Caitlin Ring Carlson is Associate Professor in the Communication Department at Seattle University. Her research focuses on media law, policy, and ethics from a feminist perspective. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Venture Beat, as well as such leading academic publications as the Journal of Media Law and Ethics.

Series Foreword vii
1 Introduction 1
2 International Approaches to Solving the Problem of Hate Speech 31
3 Current Issues: Hate Speech on US College Campuses 91
4 Current Issues: Hate Speech and Social Media 115
5 Future Directions 147
Acknowledgments 169
Glossary 171
Notes 175
Further Reading 183
Index 185