Freedom of Nazi Hate Speech is Not Absolute

When I see comments that try to excuse Nazi, Confederates and/or white supremacists using the 1st Amendment, I have to wonder if the writer has a grasp on the Constitution. I wonder if they remember history. One person who tried that in a comment I found lives in Romania.

Did you know that During WWII Romania joined the Axis, and that Romanian troops were responsible for the persecution and massacre of up to 260,000 Jews in Romanian-controlled territories? It is a repeat of that type of thing we wish to avoid.

Let us be clear about what is going on by shining the light of history and reason upon the situation. The Freedom of Speech enshrined in the 1st Amendment is not absolute. There are limits on free speech. One of those limits is that we can not use one of our "rights" to take away another "right". In the United States Declaration of Independence is a well-known phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". It was not the intention of the Founders that the freedom to speak our minds should infringe on our right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".

If you want to test the limits of free speech you should go to an airport, stand in the check in line, then yell "BOMB"! Maybe another test would be to stand in a public square and start telling passer byers that you want to kill the president. I doubt in either case you would have a convincing argument for your right to speak those things using the 1st Amendment. Another area covered would be the Inciting to riot! That is something deemed unlawful. In each of those three cases a person would be using their "speech", but the freedom of its use is proved to not be absolute. In each case the right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" of others was infringed upon.

As far as addressing the problem goes, we did that twice, and at great cost. We addressed it in WWII and the Civil war. In both instances humanity put down systems that murdered and enslaved fellow humans as a matter of course. So we all should know where a renewed Nazi or Confederate state would lead our civilization. It would in the end lead to more murder and enslavement. Again the right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is infringed upon.

History has proven that the Nazi and Confederate state condition is toxic to humanity. Their freedom to speak shall not infringe on anyone's right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". When a mob walks down the street with torches in hand it conjures up memories of the Jim Crow era south. People did the same thing down in Alabama and other places. They marched in hoods back then, and carried torches. They carried those torches into black neighbourhoods to use to burn down houses and churches. They carried rope with them too. Rope they used to hang innocent folk from the hangman's tree.

Unless you are a Holocaust Denier you are familiar with the atrocities carried out by the Nazi party and its Axis allies like Romania. I'll spare you the gruesome photos of the burned piles of bodies of men, women and children who were the victims of the Nazi state. I do provide a photo of one of our fellow human beings hanging from a rope. All of that is what the Confederacy, the Nazi and the white supremacy idealism will lead us if we allow speech to be absolutely free in all cases.

Man Hanged in Jim Crow South by White Supremacists

I urge everyone to take a hard look back at history. If these white supremacists are allowed to use speech and symbols (symbolism is speech) to spread hate and fear, we are heading back to a very dark place.