I researched free speech and hate speech and I looked at some examples of hate speech, researching hate speech on social media sites such as Twitter and Reddit, and also researching the nazi rallies at Charlottesville. I wrote an article titled "Hate Speech vs. Free Speech on Social Media Sites" which takes a look at how hate speech differs on the internet along with exploring a few examples of it. I also did a sculpture of a wolf as a metaphor for the methods of how hate speech spreads and I used Beth Cavener Stichter as my artist of inspiration.
Thinking Skill - Contextualization
History: For history, I researched hate speech and free speech and I took a look at the differences between the laws for hate speech on social media and in real life. I took a look at a few cases both online and offline and analyzed what makes each case interesting.
LA: I wrote an article and I took a look at the context behind hate speech on social media site versus in real life and I analyzed how the laws and methods of spreading hate speech compare. I decided to write an article because I haven't ever written in that style and it lets me contextualize each case and give my own thoughts on it.
Art: For art I used apoxie clay and sculpted a wolf as a metaphor for hate speech. I decided to sculpt a wolf because my artist of inspiration, Beth Cavener Stitchter usually does sculptures of them.
Language Arts & Social Studies
Hate Speech and Free Speech on Social Media Sites (According to American Law)
In America, social media sites are used on a largely day-to-day basis. They’re places where people can share their experiences, ideas, and beliefs; where free speech has a far reach and can readily be seen by others- however, the same goes for hate speech.
From the Twitter controversy leading to the permanent ban of Milo Yiannopalus to the Reddit sub r/KotakuInAction’s involvement with Gamergate, hate speech is a common occurrence all over the internet on many different public platforms. This article will delve into free speech and hate speech in America by examining the laws and notable cases regarding free speech vs hate speech both on social media sites and in real life.
Free Speech, Hate Speech, and Hate Crime
We all know the First Amendment as one of the founding rights of America; protecting free speech, religion, the press, and peaceful protest, it also gives people the right to petition the government (History.com). Because hate inherently is not a crime, hate speech is still protected by the First Amendment as free speech so long as it doesn’t cross into threats or harassment ("Hate Speech and Hate Crime").
There is no legal definition for hate speech, but the term is usually used to refer to speech that vilifies, incites hatred, or humiliates a group of people. Hate crimes include violence brought against a group of people or property, violation of civil rights, conspiracy, acts of intimidation or “true threats” and are ("Hate Speech and Hate Crime").
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The line between hate speech and hate crime is often discussed and there have been many court cases over the distinction between the two.
One notable court case was when Frank Collin, leader of the National Socialist Party of America, wanted to rally in Skokie, Chicago in 1977, an area predominantly made up of Jewish people. The rally would include about thirty to fifty people marching in single file, wearing clothes similar to that of the Nazis from Nazi Germany and they would carry banners and signs with swastikas and messages like “Free Speech for Whites” (Geoffrey).
The court case against Frank Collin was created over the claim that they were inciting and promoting violence against Jewish people. The Illinois Supreme Court determined that the demonstration proposed was protected as free speech under the law (Geoffrey).
The Collin vs Skokie case is one of many that is resulted from the uncertainty of the line between hate speech and hate crime.
Internet hate speech, what’s allowed and what isn’t?
The Collin vs Skokie court case is a good example of free speech on public ground, but when it comes to the internet’s social media, things are slightly different. The Bill of Rights’ state-action doctrine protects individual liberty from the actions of government officials and because private property isn’t owned by the government, restrictions on free speech are allowed without said government’s involvement (.“Do Individuals Have First Amendment Rights on Others' Private Property?”).
Privately-owned social media companies on the internet like Twitter or Facebook follow the same laws as a privately owned campus or store, and so they are allowed to have their own restrictions on free speech.
With this knowledge, let’s take a look at a few cases of hate speech on social media sites such as Twitter and Reddit.
Hate Speech on Twitter | Milo Yiannapolus & Leslie Jones
One notable example of hate speech on Twitter is when the far-right political commentator Milo Yiannapolous (@Nero) who made multiple hateful tweets directed towards Leslie Jones, an actress for the 2016 Ghostbusters movie and SNL cast member.
At the time, Leslie Jones was already receiving hateful comments about her race and gender, however, one of Milo’s tweets was a driving force in increasing the hateful tweets. The tweet in question was when Milo accused Jones of playing the victim and being unable to handle “hate mail” (Romano).
More harassment came when Milo’s followers created fake tweets that they attributed to Jones, some being anti-Semitic, homophobic, or including an exaggerated use of “street” slang. Milo screen-capped some of the fake tweets and responded to them with fake shock causing some people to believe that Jones had actually said some of the things (Romano).
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A day after Jones responded to the hate she was receiving, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter tweeted her about taking action against the harassment. Many people who were against the hate being spread my Milo started #BanNero, and although it took a while, Twitter did exactly that (Romano).
Twitter’s original response to the situation didn’t involve them taking action against Milo, however, the platformed had said that they banned some of the others who took part in the harassment. After opening their verification process to the public, the process that puts a blue check on the user’s profile, Twitter then decided to permanently ban Milo (Romano).
Milo gleefully responded to his permanent Twitter ban saying, “Are you kidding? This is the most gigantic possible gift!” He also made the following statement regarding the amount of harassment Jones received saying, “I’m not responsible for the conduct of millions of people on Twitter” (NG).
Milo also gave his thoughts as to why Twitter banned him with this statement: “There’s a systemic bias against conservatives and libertarians [on Twitter],” he also said, “The progressive press is going to take their side, dishonestly suggesting that I was making life difficult for a black woman” (NG).
Another statement he made about it is: “This is a political decision. With this, they are sending a message to conservatives that they’re not welcome on Twitter” (NG).
While Twitter may be more left-leaning in terms of user base, the reason for Milo’s ban is not politically motivated and is allowed under the law. Since Twitter is a private company, they are allowed to have certain restrictions on free speech without government influence. The reason for Milo’s ban is due to his violation of Twitter’s guidelines of harassment and hate speech.
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Hate Speech on Twitter | Trump's Response to Charlottesville
Another example of hate speech on Twitter comes from the responses to the nazi rallies at Charlottesville, specifically that of President Trump.
In Charlottesville, Virginia, there were two statues of generals who fought for the confederacy during the Civil War: Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. For some, the statues were symbols of discrimination and violence but to others, they were symbols of important history. In 2017, the Charlottesville City Council voted to remove the two statues and this action drew controversy all across the world (Heapy).
Scheduled for August 12, 2017, the Unite the Right Rally was the last of three different rallies at Charlottesville led and supported by people who self-identified as neo-nazis and white nationalists (Coaston). One of their purposes was to show people that they aren’t just an internet presence but an actual group that can gather in a physical place and spread their beliefs (VICE).
Jason Kessler, who opposed the city’s efforts to remove the statues, and Richard Spencer, a white nationalist joined forces and organized the first protest in May 2017: the Torch Rally. On Saturday, May 13 a daytime march was held going from McGuffey Park to Jackson Park with a nighttime event at Lee Park where white nationalists gathered while holding torches. More than 100 people attended both events, carrying flags and chanting Nazi sayings like “blood and soil,” “White lives matter,” and “Jews will not replace us.” Multiple people spoke at the events saying that Charlottesville’s removal of the statues is a war against white people and their heritage (Heapy).
The way the protesters chose the sayings used during the Torch Rally ensured that they could to spread their Nazi views without getting in trouble with the law. Because the statements were rather broad and didn’t explicitly threaten anyone, they were still protected as free speech.
Following the rallies on May 13 and May 14, a Ku Klux Klan from North Carolina came to Charlottesville and applied for a demonstration where they wanted to protest the removal of the civil war statues and also “stop cultural genocide” of white people (Heapy).
The Unite the Right Rally took place on August 12th and according to a police affidavit, expected about 250-500 Klansmen, 150+ Alt Knights (the military section for the far-right group the Proud Boys), 500 "3% Risen", and 200-300 militia (Coaston).
One reaction to seeing the people who attended the rallies would probably go something like: “yo, there’s like straight-up way too many nazis” and it would be pretty reasonable. The Unite the Right Rally was being broadcast to people as a rally to unite white nationalists and neo-nazis to protest the removal of the statues which they believed was an act against white people and their history (Coaston).
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On August 15, Trump made a response to the Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally stating, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.”
Trump’s statement is seemingly denouncing both sides, but he isn’t explicitly talking about the neo-nazis and white nationalists at Charlottesville instead taking a rather neutral stance, vaguely condemning both the protesters and counter-protesters.
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Hate Speech on Reddit | The "Subtlety" of r/FrenWorld
Reddit, a social media where communities can gather and discuss topics related to what are called subreddits. These topics can range from video games to writing to politics, but some subreddits are created for a much different purpose.
Before getting banned, there used to be a Reddit sub called r/Frenworld which used an interesting method of spreading hate speech. Of the five rules, one was “to be frenly” and while the subreddit gave off a cutesy vibe by posting seemingly wholesome cartoons, beneath the surface was fascist symbolism and Nazi ideology (Green).
The neo-nazis on the subreddit talked in a very child-like manner in order to disguise their actual purposes of supporting and spreading their anti-Semitic messages. They used Apu (a poorly drawn version of Pepe the Frog) as a mascot and put it in many of the posts (Green).
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The subreddit called people who were not supporters of their messages “nonfrens” and also referred to Jewish people as “starfrens.” They also used the phrases: “Honk Honk” or “Hulk Hogan” as code for “Heil Hitler” and referred to killing or injuring people as “bopping” them (Green).
Some of the posts on the subreddit even went as far as to hide threats inside some of their posts, one saying: “Going alien hunting today frens. There’s so many aliens in New Mexico for some reason.” The use of the word “alien” is pretty blatantly used to refer to undocumented immigrants which the subreddit often calls “Illegal Aliens” (Green).
Although the fascist and anti-Semitic messages are rather obvious when pointed out, r/Frenworld is a good example of how people who spread hate speech try to do so in a roundabout way in order to stay active on a platform and share their hate speech without getting immediately banned.
Hate Speech on Reddit | r/KotakuInAction and Gamergate
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Fighting Internet Hate Speech
Hate and hate speech are both subjective, and laws against hate speech have been proven to be ineffective in shutting it down. Some people such as Nadine Strossen, a member of the ACLU and the writer of the book “HATE: Why We Should Resist It With Free Speech, Not Censorship.” suggest to instead fight hate speech with more free speech (Sanders).
While hate speech is not a crime and not punishable by law, it can still cause psychological harm to those who are being offended ("Hate Speech and Hate Crime").
(this section is still in progress)
History Explanation
For history, I decided to research the rallies at Charlottesville and also research the difference between free speech, hate speech, and hate crime. Hate speech on the internet was a topic that interested me, so I decided to research cases of hate speech on the sites Twitter, and Reddit. All of that research was used in my Language Arts article, and I believe I learned a lot about how hate speech spreads and the lengths that people will go to in order to spread their views.
Art
About the Art
I decided to sculpt a wolf because that’s a common subject that Beth Cavener, my artist of inspiration, does works of. As for the sculpture’s metaphor itself, hate speech, especially online is done indirectly, and I wanted to make the wolf’s expression look as if there was something slightly bothersome. I also wanted the wolf to look sort of annoyed in reference to the people who spread hate speech seeming disconnected in understanding how their words have an impact on other people. The reason why the metaphor itself is a wolf is because of the way that hate speech spreads and the kind of people who spread it. Generally, there are groups or “packs” who will support a big name in a community, like in the case of Milo Yiannapolous where his followers decided to follow his lead and continue to insult Leslie Jones’ race and gender.
While the original idea and the final product don't exactly match up, I'm not too disappointed in the product even if it didn't look quite like I had planned. I also don't think that the product showed off the metaphor as well, but I still got a lot of practice with sculpting.
The Process
Clay Work
Final Piece
I spent about 8 hours on the sculpture itself using one day to create the armature, another day to add the clay and another to add the details. Overall, I really enjoyed making the sculpture, mixing the clay was fun and figuring out how to make it look good at all angles was fun as well. I think the hardest part of the entire process was sculpture was making the armature for the legs because I didn't measure it and I probably should have. The other hardest part was not accidentally touching the other details while working on other parts of the wolf, especially when I was doing the tail because just before it I did the fur on the back legs and it was hard to work around. I'm pretty happy with the result.
Annotated Bibliography
Coaston, Jane. “Trump's New Defense of His Charlottesville Comments Is Incredibly False.” Vox, Vox, 26 Apr. 2019, www.vox.com/2019/4/26/18517980/trump-unite-the-right-racism-defense-charlottesville. This gave me general information on Charlottesville and who attended along with Trump's responses. I used this information in my article in the section about Twitter hate speech. Geoffrey R. Stone, "Hate Speech and the U.S. Constitution," 3 East European Constitutional Review 78 (1994). This source gave some examples of court cases regarding hate speech and also discussed the creation and changes of the law-making on hate speech and free speech in the U.S. I used this source to help me better understand the ideas behind the lawmaking and also to understand the details of certain cases. Green, Andrew. “Crypto-Fascism: How the Alt-Right Uses Guerilla Warfare Tactics to Spread Their Ideology to Mainstream Social Media Platforms.” Medium, Medium, 24 May 2019, medium.com/@a.ndrewgreen/crypto-fascism-how-the-alt- right-uses-guerilla-warfare-tactics-to-spread-their-ideology-to-ab7cedde1a2e. This source gave me information on the Reddit sub r/FrenWorld and gave examples and explanations for some of the posts on it along with detailing the methods used to keep the subreddit online. Heapy, Timothy J. Independent Review of the 2017 Protest Events In Charlottesville, Virginia. Hunton & Williams, 2017, pp. 1–219, Independent Review of the 2017 Protest Events In Charlottesville, Virginia. This report reviews the events that occurred at Charlottesville including the KKK Rally, the Torch Rally, and the Unite the Right rally. It goes into detail about what happened and how the city officials and police dealt with the protesters. It also explained what caused organization in some parts of the events and disorganization in others. History.com Editors. “First Amendment.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Dec. 2017, www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/first-amendment. This source gave information on the First Amendment and elaborated on the details of each section of the amendment. This was useful information for the article I’m writing on hate speech and free speech on social media. "Hate Speech and Hate Crime", American Library Association, December 12, 2017. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/hate (Accessed September 6, 2019) Document ID: aa35c1c7-f3aa-4b07-964f-30dcf85a503c This source gave detailed information on the differences between hate speech and hate crime, and also gave examples of some court cases regarding hate speech in the U.S. NG, David. “Milo Yiannopoulos Says His 'Ghostbusters'-Related Twitter Ban Is 'the Most Gigantic Possible Gift'.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2016, www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-milo-yiannopoulos-ghostbusters-twitter-20160710-snap- story.html. This source explains how Milo Yianopoulus responded to his ban and gave me insight into his opinion of free speech on Twitter. This was used in my article in the section about Twitter hate speech. Romano, Aja. “Milo Yiannopoulos's Twitter Ban, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 20 July 2016, www.vox.com/2016/7/20/12226070/milo-yiannopoulus-twitter-ban-explained. This source gave me information on Milo Yianopoulos's ban from twitter and explained how he helped spread hate and how Twitter dealt with it. This information was used in my article in the section talking about hate speech on Twitter. Sanders, Sam. “It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders.” Audio blog post. Free Speech Vs. Hate Speech. NPR, 5 June 2018. Web. 6 Sept. 2019. This was an interview with ACLU member, Nadine Strossen, and it gave much insight into the group’s goals along with more information on how free speech and hate speech are being spread and how they are being dealt with. VICE, director. Charlottesville: Race and Terror – VICE News Tonight on HBO. YouTube, VICE, 14 Aug. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrcB1sAN8I. This video took an inside look into the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville including an interview with multiple neo-nazis and white supremacists. It also gave insight on the violence in the rally and there were some interviews with people who had been at the site of the car attack. Winston, Andrew M. “Right to Peaceful Assembly: United States.” Right to Peaceful Assembly: United States | Law Library of Congress, Library of Congress, 1 Oct. 2014, www.loc.gov/law/help/peaceful-assembly/us.php. This source gave me detailed information on the First Amendment and the right to assemble.