Free Speech v.s. Hate Speech

Whenever I think of the 1st amendment, I think of South Park. It may not seem like a natural connection, but for me, it is. For the last 20 or so years, South Park has been the envelope-pushing show. Over the time it has been the air, the show has constantly gotten more vulgar and inappropriate, which causes many fans and critics to ask, what's ok to say? I thoroughly believe in the right to free speech, so when people criticize South Park for using crass language or enacting a disgusting scenario, I often scoff and point them in the direction of the Bill of Rights. But free speech has its pitfalls. When any TV show, movie, or song uses language that could be thought of as un-allowable, I ask myself, could they, or more importantly would they, do that on South Park?

Recently I read a blog post by my friend Erik in which he talked about the rapper Eminem and his new album. Erik listened to the album and heard many anti-gay slurs and wrote a blog post in response to that. He singled out the song "Rap God," in which the rapper uses the word "faggot" several times, and on top of that, specifically makes a threat (though presumably an empty one) against a homosexual person in the lyrics. The point he makes in the post is that Eminem should most definitely not be using this language, not only because it is hateful, but because it sets a bad example for a younger generation of listeners. I wanted to agree with Erik, but I was conflicted. Free speech is such an important right, but unfortunately, it can't only be applied to certain cases. You've either got it or you don't. I obviously didn't want to condone Eminem's hateful lyrics, but at the same time, I didn't agree limiting free speech only in certain cases. So I thought about it in the context of South Park. It's a show about a bunch of foul-mouthed, vulgar kids, but you would never hear them going around saying "faggot" (unless it was being used ironically, in Cartman's case.) Why? It's hateful. South Park may be a racy show, but it isn't a discriminatory one.

If there's a lesson to be learned from this, it's that free speech does NOT include hate speech. Just because you have the right to free speech, you can't go around saying whatever you want. People who bash homosexuals, people of different races, and just about anyone who is different from them are not protected by the 1st amendment. And with that being said, I've come to the conclusion that Erik was right. Eminem may just be trying to regain some of his old audience or trying to sound angrier than he really is, but it doesn't justify the type of homophobic language he uses.