Will recent acts of violence against Muslims in Canada lead us to see what we should have seen earlier — that anti-Muslim works are hate speech that encourage violence against Muslims?
Commentators across the political spectrum spread anti-Islamic rhetoric, insisting that Islam is intrinsically violent and that Muslims are terrorists. But studies show these claims are unfounded.
Free speech may protect offensive speech, but we degrade this central right when we see it as simply the right to offend, regardless of the impact on others.