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Hate Speech
Hate speech is speech or expression that denigrates a person or persons on the basis of (alleged) membership in a social group identified by such attributes as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, physical or mental disability, and others. Typical hate speech involves epithets and slurs (e.g., “nigger,” “faggot,” “bitch”), statements that promote malicious stereotypes (“Mexicans are lazy”), and speech intended to incite hatred or violence against a group (“Kill all the Muslims!”). Hate speech can also include nonverbal depictions and symbols. For example, Jews and others might label the brandishing of the Nazi swastika as hate speech, and some feminists consider pornography to be hate speech against women. Critics of hate speech argue that it not only causes psychological harm to its ...
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