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20/21 | FALL 2023
The abus in Ameri
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BY ANGELINA GEVORGYAN THE MIRROR EXECUTIVE EDITOR
FUELING STEREOTYPES Hate speech can originate from the
brain’s habit of stereotyping, which makes it easier for an individual to hate on certain social groups. THE MIRROR | GRAPHICS BY BRIANNA ALVARADO
percent of Americans believe Biden’s 2020 victory was fraudulent. Nearly one in five remain unvaccinated against covid-19. Over 1,000 face charges for
the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. These startling statistics share one origin: free speech. More specifically, the abuse of free speech. As political tensions rise, Americans grapple with the dilemma of protecting free expression while combating the spread of misinformation and hate. Without a doubt, freedom of speech is a fundamental component of American democracy. “The exchange of controversial ideas that clash with one another is what builds democracy,” Dr. Monicka Guevara, a sociology professor at CSUN, said. “The goal should be to live in a society where free speech is preserved, and where all of us are safe to express ourselves with our convictions and desires.” Free speech is one of the pinnacle expressions of being a subject in a free society. Being able to express one’s opinions about political, economic, social and cultural affairs at any level is a basic human right. “In the context of an individual, it means the freedom to express one’s own ideas and having a platform to express one’s ideas,” junior Dwayne Famenia said. “Ultimately, I think it is fundamental to human freedom, especially in the twenty-first century.” Famenia is founder and president of the VNHS Student Task Force. His club’s mission is to educate communities about human rights abuses across the globe. Free speech bears liberty, individuality and independence. “Freedom of speech is among the core liberties America was founded on,” CSUN Sociology Professor Dr. Beth Jakubanis said. “We as a society are extremely diverse and we have only become more diverse in the last 50 years. Our diversity can be our strength, or it can be our downfall. If we head down the road of taking away freedom of speech, we begin to live according to the rules of totalitarianism, communism and other forms of government that do not allow for diversity and at that point we begin to become our own worst enemy instead of using our diversities and our differences to be the strength that creates and weaves together a stronger society.” Despite this, hate speech is a branch diverging from this freedom that yields more harm than benefit. Typically, hate speech is characterized as any form of expression through which a person intends to incite hatred against another person or group of people on the basis of their race, religion, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability or national origin. Currently, however, hate speech is
not legally defined under U.S. interpretation depending on The intention behind som indicator of whether that spe It is important to consider legacy of what a word or phra it relates to groups that are m have sociologically less powe alizing and assessing the imp able populations is key. “You can’t really delineate speech in a very clear way,” Dr tant sociology professor at CS to be contextual and situatio going to be about what group how.” In America, hate speech is by the First Amendment, whi ment to defend even the mos discourse that may cause oth grief. According to the law, ha criminalized if it directly inci is composed of detailed threa against a particular person or Hate speech has wide-reac the nation. While it can be ut groups, it can also be used to socio-emotional level. Millions of K-12 students e hate speech, hate crimes or a U.S. Government Accountabil school year, approximately 1.3 to 18 were hatefully targeted o national, religious, gender or According to The Mirror’s su dents polled have been victim point in their lives. As a psychotherapist and f apy Center, Dr. Jakubanis beli hate speech exploit their free and justify the harm they do “It pains me to see people ues and using them to hurt o speech means that you can s your heart, but that you cann rights when you’re doing it. M the point that I violate your r If someone is being negat nistic, adversarial and potent speech isn’t just free speech s in doing harm. Such scenario has gone awry, and that some regulate the situation. While federal laws do their between free and hate speech issue begs the question of wh regulate speech without infri free speech. “Any democracy is going to mos said. “We can try to locat some of the most excess form
