Hate speech as an abuse of freedom of speech

Abstract

The thesis thematises the actuality of abuse of free speech through three different – early modern, modern, and near-future – accounts of this nexus, demonstrating how the abuse continuously takes on new appearances. I initially define abuse of freedom of speech as hate speech in terms of corrupting free speech by populism through demagogy, commercialisation, and security concerns. I argue that hate speech no longer emerges in the classical form of insults and swears against particular minorities or people. Instead, it originates from demagogy, the reduction of free speech to a commodity, the psychological pressure of security politics, and the culture of fear. I name this form of hate speech the abuse of free speech. In doing this, I use mixed methods research. I firstly handle the critical film of Ken Russell's, the Devils (1971) through the textual analysis method of film studies. The Devils is interesting to reconsider in a contemporary context because of its explicit focus on the demagogic element in the nexus of parrhesia, cancellation, and self-censorship. Later, the study turns the Circle (2013), a novel by Dave Eggers, which elaborates on how the attempt at creating a transparent society causes the perversion of free speech through commercialisation. I examine the novel via literary analysis. In the next chapter, the study discusses how security concerns and fear legitimise hate speech through critical discourse analysis of former US President Donald Trump’s speeches on immigrants. To conclude, I articulate, in a prism, how populism corrupts free speech and leads to hate speech through demagogy, commercialisation and security concerns, and I underline the problems of populism by associating them with liberal democracy.