Why Regulate Hate Speech When You Can Destroy Capitalism?

According to Hispanic Business, the National Hispanic Media Coalition is trying to create a scientific process for the F.C.C. to use to hold broadcasters accountable for hate speech. Personally, I think this is a bad idea.

• Regulating “hate speech” can backfire and be used to stop oppressed peoples from calling out oppressors.
• Allowing people to exercise “Hate Speech” gives others the power to hold those politically vile individuals accountable. (The K.K.K. organized itself as the invisible empire. Refusing to name things can increase their power.)
• Limiting freedom of speech is a practice of authoritarian regimes of all stripes and sets dangerous precedents for those who want to control public discourse.

What irks me about the NHMC’s attempt to regulate hate speech is that it can’t see the forest for the trees (and then burn down the forest). The trouble is not with a few individuals speaking their obviously racist minds. Rather, the trouble is that a handful of corporations have seized control of broadcast infrastructure and are using tools of communication for propaganda and mass manipulation leading people to support and commit egregious acts of racism (a 40% rise in hate crimes against Latinos).

I’m not saying the big media monopolies should get to use hate speech. I don’t think these monopolies should exist at all. The use of hate speech by these conglomerations is truly dangerous. If the NHMC wants to stop hate speech, it should fight for broader access to broadcast infrastructure and airwaves and work to destroy the media monopolies. As the strongest organs of propaganda in the United States, perhaps in history, when corporate media speak, people listen. The trouble is, if you want to stop Big Media from committing mass acts of violence, you can’t simply ask them to use nicer language. You have to challenge these media entities right to exist and replace them with something better.

If the NHMC wants to stop the media from propagating acts of violence against the Latino community, they should work to broaden the discourse and fight those who have consolidated power. Until there is a vibrant, diverse (in all senses of the word), media justice movement that redistributes access and offers viable trainings, no reformist nitpicking of F.C.C. regulations will liberate the airwaves from those who want to use it to consolidate white power and build personal capital.