The Pros And Cons Of Hate Speech

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Recommended: Significance of freedom of speech and expression

Freedom of expression is one the most important Human Right an individual can have, it also shapes a free, democratic society. One of the most valuable instrument to disseminate the freedom of expression is the press. However, journalists usually are targets of radicals, opposing the amount of information spread by the press, because of their daring to publish all opinions to the society. First of all, the Charlie Hebdo affair must be presented. Charlie Hebdo is a popular french satirical magazine, which encountered two terrorist attacks: one in 2011 and one in 2015. On 7 January 2015, 12 people were killed: staff cartoonists, editors, an economist and other contributers. The attack was justified by offensive anti- Islamic caricatures, published by Charlie Hebdo. The day after the attack Charlie Hebdo announced that the publication of the magazine will continue, and made 5 million copies of it’s new edition, instead of usual 60,000. After the massacre, the phrase “Je suis Charlie” (in french- I am Charlie) became a worldwide known slogan, to support the Charlie Hebdo …show more content…

Theoritically, it doesn’t, but practically, a concept of ‘’hate speech’’ exists. Hate speech is a speech, which is offensive and attacks a group of people based on their religion, gender, ethnicity, etc. There are many views in society about Charlie Hebdo and their caricatures- some say that it was offensive and may be called a hate speech whereas others see there only humor and zero offensiveness. But, as it is stated in the “Handbook of Human Rights”: “Those who engage in hate speech do so with the aim of causing harm (more or less directly) to those they target(Cushman,T. 2014)” Charlie Hebdo, as a famous magazine did not want to cause any intentional harm to muslims, because the aim of the press is to enlighten the society.. At any rate, Article 2 of the 1958 French constitution states

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