I wrote a pretty long response, but the parent is now dead even though it was mostly a well written argument.
So, I'm going to defend that last point a bit by saying that the poster admits to not knowing the answer, but feeling like the gov should do something about it... Well maybe that's a little misguided, but I'm going to say that I don't think "hate speech" really has a place on FCC approved broadcasts in the same way that you don't hear the f-word. That isn't to say I'm in favor of censorship, because in fact the people I hear frequently labeled as white supremacists (or whatever) and the like actually seem to be exposing disagreeable ideas, but doing it in a less offensive/damaging way than your average political talking head. Particularly on some of the right-wing talk shows, which frequently seem to actually be calls to violence. Followed by health clinics being bombed, or people getting shot.
Much like I don't think the act of yelling "fire" in a theater, or "bomb" in an airport should itself be illegal, I do believe that people who have made statements that result in inappropriate responses (violence, stampedes, etc) should be held accountable. So, if I yell "fire" in the theater and a few people look around but don't move, its not the same as yelling fire and a stampede crushing people to death as they leave. Which has a lot of similarities to the "bomb" statement today. In the same way that people were once terrorized by the media and the idea of theater fires, today we are terrorized by the idea of people with box cutters. Expecting an overreaction should be part of the thought process of people before saying something.
So, I'm going to defend that last point a bit by saying that the poster admits to not knowing the answer, but feeling like the gov should do something about it... Well maybe that's a little misguided, but I'm going to say that I don't think "hate speech" really has a place on FCC approved broadcasts in the same way that you don't hear the f-word. That isn't to say I'm in favor of censorship, because in fact the people I hear frequently labeled as white supremacists (or whatever) and the like actually seem to be exposing disagreeable ideas, but doing it in a less offensive/damaging way than your average political talking head. Particularly on some of the right-wing talk shows, which frequently seem to actually be calls to violence. Followed by health clinics being bombed, or people getting shot.
Much like I don't think the act of yelling "fire" in a theater, or "bomb" in an airport should itself be illegal, I do believe that people who have made statements that result in inappropriate responses (violence, stampedes, etc) should be held accountable. So, if I yell "fire" in the theater and a few people look around but don't move, its not the same as yelling fire and a stampede crushing people to death as they leave. Which has a lot of similarities to the "bomb" statement today. In the same way that people were once terrorized by the media and the idea of theater fires, today we are terrorized by the idea of people with box cutters. Expecting an overreaction should be part of the thought process of people before saying something.