Should hate speech be illegal?

Other countries have laws condemning hate speech

Question: Should hate speech be illegal?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, hate speech should be illegal
Argument‹3 of 3: Other countries have laws condemning hate speech

Different countries have various ways to approach hate speech. Some don’t do anything at all while others are strict about it.

The argument

Hate speech has varying consequences around the world. In the United States, hate speech is not considered illegal, but is instead considered freedom of speech. In Japan, a relatively peaceful country, there are laws that condemn hate speech. In the UK, although there are no specific laws against hate speech, according to the Public Order Act in 1986, no one can be discriminated against because of their identity. Even though not all countries protect against hate speech, the fact that some do put laws in place should be evidence that hate speech should be illegal.

Premises

[P1]Several countries, including Japan and the UK, have enacted laws that condemn or restrict hate speech and discrimination. [P2] The fact that peaceful, functioning societies adopt such laws is evidence that criminalizing hate speech is workable and beneficial. [C] Therefore, hate speech should be made illegal, following the example of other countries.

Counter-arguments

Making laws against hate speech would take away the right to free speech. If no one can speak their minds about things and people that bother them, then a country’s population is being kept under too much government control.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Discrimination and hate speech are two different things. Hate speech doesn’t have the goal of preventing anyone from having basic human rights.