Review
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“A powerful little book that seeks to dismantle familiar
defenses of the right to indefensible speech.”―Kelefa Sanneh, New
Yorker
“[Waldron’s] book sheds light on a number of difficult issues,
and occasionally exposes the difference between historical fact
and fiction… He elegantly and convincingly advocates that our
leaders should not only avoid the use of hate speech themselves,
but also condemn its use by others… We should all do our best to
preserve President Ford’s conception of America as a place where
we can disagree without being disagreeable. An understanding of
the arguments in Waldron’s book may help us to do so.”―John Paul
Stevens, New York Review of Books
“Waldron…challenges society and its legal system to do something
about [the harm done by hate speech]. But the likelihood that
something will be done is slim if Waldron is right about the
state of First Amendment discourse: ‘[I]n the American debate,
the philosophical arguments about hate speech are knee-jerk,
impulsive and thoughtless.’ Not the arguments of this book,
however; they hit the mark every time.”―Stanley Fish, New York
Times
“The Harm in Hate Speech is the fullest embodiment of arguments
that Waldron has been developing for years… Waldron’s treatise is
primarily a philosophical defense of hate-speech regulation. He
argues that hate speech is an ‘environmental’ problem that
pollutes the atmosphere of security and dignity that society
should provide to all its members… Speech intended to intimidate
or malign destroys this assurance… While we should continue to
protect the free speech of those we disagree with, The Harm in
Hate Speech makes a compelling case that they are not the only
ones who need defending.”―Daniel Townshend, American Prospect
“Waldron is firmly on the side of the hate speech legislators. He
wants free speech dogmatists to think again, and presents a
series of challenges to the prevailing view in the U.S.”―Nigel
Warburton, Times Literary Supplement
“To the (mostly white) liberals who say they hate the content of
hate speech, but defend its right to exist under the First
Amendment (often while patting themselves on the back for their
tolerance), Waldron replies, in essence: easy for you to say. In
this brief, eloquent book, he urges readers (at a bare minimum)
to think about how hate speech feels from the point of view of
its targets… From key court battles Waldron teases out the ideas
that matter in deciding how to balance free expression with a
free society, one in which everybody can ‘know that when they
leave home in the morning, they can count on not being
discriminated against or humiliated or terrorized.’”―Kate Tuttle,
Boston Globe
“This is a wonderful book. It conveys complex ideas in an
accessible and convincing way… Jeremy Waldron has put together a
clear and compelling rationale for hate-speech laws―the harm that
it causes to human dignity.”―Katharine Gelber, Times Higher
Education
“This book develops a theory of hate speech that challenges
existing U.S. legal rubrics. U.S. courts have repeatedly held
that the First Amendment forbids criminalization of hate speech,
but Waldron advances a broader view of the link between free
expression and important social values such as tolerance and
inclusiveness… If dignity is a concept that is valued by a
polity, Waldron argues, then there are important reasons to
distinguish hate speech from other forms of expression that merit
legal protection. An elegant synthesis of modern legal philosophy
and leading cases, as well as a critique of the positions of
prominent legal theorists such as Ronald Dworkin and C. Edwin
Baker, the book is a readable, thought-provoking contribution to
the literature.”―S. B. Lichtman, Choice
“A vigorously argued, intelligent challenge to the ‘liberal
bravado’ of U.S. First Amendment scholars. In an eloquent reply
to free-speech advocates, Waldron moves step by step in building
the argument as to why hate-speech laws are good for a
well-ordered society… The author argues that the damage caused by
hate speech is like an ‘environmental threat to social peace, a
sort of slow-acting poison’ that robs the intended victims of
their dignity and reputation in society. Waldron’s analogy
between hate speech and pornography―in terms of the defamation of
women―is particularly noteworthy. He responds carefully to the
notion of free speech as a necessary part of democracy’s
‘marketplace of ideas’ and looks to the Enlightenment philosophes
for their views on toleration and defamation.”―Kirkus Reviews
“Waldron is a legal and political thinker at the height of his
powers. Even, or perhaps especially, for someone who disagrees
with his position on hate speech legislation, this book conveys a
subtle, rich, rigorous and deeply challenging argument.”―Timothy
Garton Ash, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
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About the Author
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Jeremy Waldron is University Professor in the School of Law
at New York University.
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