The Debate of Free Speech When It Comes to Hate
During a recent production of Fiddler on the Roof, the play was brought to a sudden halt when an audience member yelled out anti Semitic statements.
In Baltimore, the touring production of Fiddler was showcasing one night last month. The play, mainly based on a Jewish family, whose dad is trying to marry off his daughters with the help of a matchmaker. During the play, a man, identified as Anthony Derlunas, yelled out “Heil Hitler, heil Trump.” The man was shortly removed from the theatre, yet the other audience members remained shaken up. The cast, also deeply effected, as their next stop on their tour was Pittsburgh, a city that recently went through an anti Semitic shooting which killed 11 innocent people.
After being taken to the police department and further questioned, Matthew Jablow, a head policeman on the case released a statement about the charges, “As reprehensible as the man’s words were, they are considered protected free speech because nobody was directly threatened.” Many witnesses of the incident would beg to differ, saying he created a hostile environment where no would could feel safe. As one man said, “I was waiting to hear a gunshot, frankly.” Sadly this event shows us how anti Semitism is still apparent in our world today. That being the case, do you believe that Derlunas should of been punished? Do you think that his act of hate should be classified as an act of free speech? And what do you think we can do to further our world from the one where anti semitism exists?
I believe that Derlunas should be punished in some way because he clearly created a hostile environment that caused people to feel threatened, even though he did not directly threaten any one person. I do not think that his act of hate speech should be classified as an act of free speech because to me, it seems like the way Delunas expressed himself was more of a threat than an act of free speech. I think it's necessary to look at the motive behind Delunas' outburst and what his act of hate speech was motivated by. I think that one way we could reduce antisemitism in our world would be to teach kids how to tolerate and include people who are different than them. This would hopefully lead to less hatred towards innocent people or groups of people.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I personally believe that this was extremely horrible thing for this man to say, especially in the light of what has happened recently, it should still be classified as free speech. He isn’t making a direct threat towards the people on saying he is supporting political parties, even if they have done terrible things. Because of this in my opinion there isn’t a lot of grounds for him to go to jail.
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