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Tucker Carlson recently said on his top-rated Fox News show that hate speech does not exist. Yet numerous groups warn that hate speech against minority groups not only exists, but is on the rise. Shortly after Elon Musk took over Twitter, hate speech on the popular site spiked. Kanye West’s antisemitic comments led to several alarming incidents of antisemitism across the U.S. Straight Arrow News contributor Rashad Richey cautions that despite what Tucker Carlson says, hate speech is very real.
So let me highlight the lack of intellectual integrity and probably intellectual prowess of Tucker Carlson. He literally says hate speech does not exist. Then he says it does exist in the context of speech that people hate. Well, that’s not how it works. But he does acknowledge hate speech does exist in a certain context. But then he goes on to say that hate speech is typically hated by the people in power.
Now, that will be news to people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who had hate speech hurled at him. He was not a man in power. He was a man striving and advocating for Black people in America to have fair wages, for Black people in America to have equal opportunity and access. And by extension, those who may not be Black, but who were poor, working and trying to live the American dream. Now remember, Tucker Carlson’s basis here, his proclamation, the platform, says hate speech does not exist. Now, why is he doing this? Why is he saying this?
It is the pretext to create the context for what they will do next. The pretext is, let’s allow all language, even language that offends, as part of our social mainstream. Here’s the reality. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequence. Those are not the same. Just because you have the ability to say hateful things, does not mean there will not be a consequence to the hateful speech you spew.
