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Walking the Line: Free Speech vs. Hate Speech
This past weekend I attended a protest at Reggae Carifest over on Randall's Island here in NYC.
Are we walking the line between allowing "Hate Speech" and infringing upon these artists 1st Amendment Right by protesting events like Reggae Carifest, and calling for the accountability of both the Corporations and artists that provide platforms to spread messages that put people in harm's way?
The protest was aimed at encouraging the media to spotlight these performers' violent, disturbing lyrics and to question companies such as Clear Channel's support of messages that promote violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
Both Buju Banton and Bounty Killer notoriously celebrate brutal acts of anti-gay violence in their music. For example, lyrics from Buju Banton's song "Boom Bye Bye" refer to a gay person as a "batty-boy," which is a slang term equivalent to the f-word. "Boom Bye Bye" goes on to glorify violence against gay people by telling listeners to take any "batty-boy" and "burn him up like an old tire wheel." Bounty Killer¹s song "Another Level" explains that "S**t men (gay men) must be drowned and that's a yardy man (Jamaican) philosophy."
Let me know what you think?
- Jason Cooper's blog
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Censorship is bad in just about every case
Any limit on the freedom of speech is detrimental to the democratic process. Of course if someone's "speech" is "hey, let's go kill that gay high school kid" then it should be prosecuted, considering its proposing an immediate illegal act.
But there are lots of books, speeches, magazines, etc. that are odious, such as those of holocaust deniers, that should be free to be distributed, nomatter how wrong or wrongheaded they are. The solution in a pluralistic society isn't curbing "bad" speech, but promoting more "good" speech. A famous example is that of David Irving, who was arrested and sentenced to prison in Austria for things he wrote over 16 years previously. Yes, Irving is a tool, but he should not have been imprisoned for putting his views to paper.
Which brings us to the problem at hand -- speech may be free, but who owns the megaphones? Right now, it's the large music labels along with the radio and TV monopolies, who are pretty clear in saying things like "gangsta rap sells, so we're not going to play your song because it's 'political' or has a 'message'."
So what do we do? We protest, we agitate, we support alternative messages, and we pressure the corporations to diversify the content of their listings, to de-emphasize hateful music -- all while building up our own forms of media, which will be community-owned, free, and democratic.
PS
Christopher Hitchens has a great speech about censorship and hate speech on YouTube.
Hate speech censorship
"Are we walking the line between allowing "Hate Speech" and infringing upon these artists 1st Amendment Right by protesting events like Reggae Carifest?"
Allowing them to say the incredibly hateful things that they do is their 1st Amendment Right, and so is the protest that took place. I don't think the government should censor the speech; I think the best way for the issue to be resolved is within the Reggae community itself.
[BTW, welcome Jason! ;)]
This is the First Amendment in action:
Calling for the collective accountability of musicians, consumers, and corporations to address the issues of misogyny and homophobia within our various communities and networks.
While I do not support censorship by the government, or any laws that would create a "chilling effect" on free speech, this is an example of people demanding a more responsible, mature, and free culture.
By the way, I LOVE StaceyAnn Chin... (pictured in the center holding the sign "No More Anti-Gay Music) she is a shining example of how to exercise free speech, creative resistance, and social justice through her amazing poetry and spoken word.