The B Word

               The house bill 3719 in the state of Massachusetts is one that has had quit the buzz around it, in the last couple weeks. This bill states that the use of the word “bitch” would be illegal and could face fines and possible jail time if caught using the word. Many people are saying that this bill will not go far and will probably not get approved. I want to use this case as an example to show the banning of hate speech is still prevalent in people’s minds.

               First thing that I want to look at is the way the bill was proposed and how it could have not drummed up all the attention that it did. The state of Mass. citizens can request their representative to file the bill on their behalf. The person who wrote the bill would be the one who would testify for it and the representatives name would not me included. The bill was filed by Rep. Daniel Hunt, but he claims the bill was supposed to be by request from a citizen but he forgot to check the box indicating that on the form. So, Hunt is getting the flak for the bill instead. The fact that a representatives name was on the bill made it more of a deal and could be the reason why its getting so much attention. There are thousand of bills by request a year in Mass. and very little get much attention or pass but every bill is still heard by the committee.

               The precedent for hate speech is the famous case Brandenburg v Ohio. We know the details of the case and we know the appellate court overturned the decision saying Brandenburg’s speech was protected by the first amendment. The court had two points that would be required for it to be not protected under the first amendment which are "directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and "likely to incite or produce such action." If we would look at the bill it would not pass the test and the speech in question is protected under the first amendment. If they were trying to propose a law that would ban all curse words than it would be even more crazy and not even worth talking about. In this bill, they focus on the word bitch because it is offensive to women specifically. I think the bill writer was doing this in hopes of invoking support for the bill by women rights groups. The problem is when you start banning one then another will follow and then suddenly you have no free speech at all. This is the problem at we face as a society and a country. We want to have free speech but with all the offensive words that there are today is it right to all citizens to let other citizens call them things or say things to them that are offensive and not punish them for it.

               We as a civilize society use words that are even barbaric at times and we just let people say it because we want them to have free speech but where should the line really be drawn. I think the use of the b word and other words like fa word should be restricted. I think that the use of these words to describe someone should be punished as well as other offense and racial slurs. There is no use for these words and they are offense and plain unnecessary. Just saying a word shouldn’t be punished but using the b word toward someone should be punished or we will continue to fight each other and turn into barbarians if we don’t stop the hate now.