by Stephen A. Smith

About the author: Stephen A. Smith is a professor of communication at the University of Arkansas.

My position and my argument is not only that hate speech codes are patently unconstitutional under the First Amendment, it is also that they are a bad idea as a matter of public policy. When first asked to contribute to this collection of essays, I suggested that the editors might wish to enlist someone else to write about hate speech, because I am, in a sense, for it. But, let me explain that statement.

Speech Codes Do Not Change Beliefs

The corrosive emotion of hate is, I think, a manifestation of the emotion of fear, created by economic insecurity, relative status deprivation, lack of education, feelings of powerlessness, sexual insecurity, or a more general fear of all differences...