Nadine Strossen: Live at Politics and Prose

Nadine Strossen discusses her book, Hate, at Politics and Prose on 5/5/18.

The rise of the alt-right has sparked urgent debates about free speech, with some people worried that hate speech is so potentially harmful that it should be banned. Others contend that putting any limit on First Amendment rights establishes a dangerous precedent for limiting expression. Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008 and now a constitutional law professor at New York Law School, argues for an expansive approach to the First Amendment. She bases her case on an examination of anti-hate speech laws, which have proven ineffective at reducing the offensive speech, and have lent themselves to suppressing minority viewpoints. A better solution lies in the “counterspeech” activism that’s becoming more prominent on college campuses and in many human rights movements.

https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780190859121