Unpublished Paper
Hate Speech as Theater
(2018)
Abstract
More public and philosophical attention has recently been given to hate speech. Hate speech does not merely hurt feelings; it is public communication that implies that the targeted group does not merit the constitutional protections assured the speaker. Hate speech poses a riddle given the liberal commitment to freedom of speech independent of content.
This paper argues that philosophers misdiagnose hate speech. The novel claim is that hate speech is a tactic in a game being played by the speakers. The game’s prize is the same kind of personal buzz felt by effective theater actors. Winning requires manipulating the audience’s “evaluative attitude”. Only in certain evaluative attitudes does hate speech hurt emotionally. A similar public attitude makes relaxing constitutional protections feel more acceptable.
The interesting case is when philosophers, who value critical scrutiny for its own sake, misdiagnose hate speech because they too fall for the gamers’ manipulation.
Keywords
- hate speech,
- theater theory,
- game theory,
- evaluative attitude
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer July 20, 2018
Citation Information
Adam White. "Hate Speech as Theater" (2018) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/adam-white/9/