Flag Burning is Horrendous, Hate Speech is Okay

Freedom of speech, one of the most valued tenets of American democracy. It’s been used as a shield to allow people to openly speak their mind no matter how offensive or false. It has been used as a weapon against other nations that live under despotic tyrants (who put them there?), their lack of rights seen as another example of their backwardness compared to the United States.

But what does this cherished liberty really entail? Most know the basic limitations to the First Amendment, such as not yelling fire in public place or publicly defaming a person’s character under false pretenses. I say most because it seems not even the President-elect Donald Trump truly understands this concept. That’s because in the end, what Freedom of Speech means depends on who you ask.

To the Supreme Court, flag burning is considered a form of speech that can be freely expressed, while burning a cross or wearing an armband in protest on school property are prohibited. To the alt-right, flag burning is overtly offensive, unpatriotic and those that partake in the form of protest should be thrown in jail for treason. The latter are vehemently adamant that they will overturn the landmark Texas v. Johnson decision now that they have a government that works for them (although this may be easier said than done.)

On the other hand, the alt-right has taken the title of First Amendment avengers, defending any person that has been in their eyes unfairly silenced for their racy views. They also believe the American culture is being neutered by a “politically correct” stigma that is silencing them from speaking how they really feel, no matter how vile, despicable or bigoted a statement is and without any concern for those impacted by it. This movement has been led by the infamous Milo Yiannopoulos, editor at Breitbart News, main headquarters for alt-right news and views panned by critics as anti-semitic, Islamophobic, racist and sexist.

Yiannopoulos seems an odd bedfellow to lead the effort in defending the First Amendment; for one thing he is not a United States citizen but a British immigrant, a gay catholic to boot. That hasn’t stopped his popularity from surging due to his extensive work in verbally abusing any threat to the alt right. He rose to prominence through he and his cadre’s attacks on feminists and female gamers now referred to as Gamergate, resulting in not only rape and death threats on social media but Yiannopoulos’ first ban on Twitter for being the ringleader of these vile attacks.

Whether coincidence or not, he was appointed “tech editor” at Breitbart soon after the controversy, basically being rewarded for abusing women and anyone that supported them. The self-described journalist was a necessary cog in the alt-right machine, a young replacement for the late Andrew Breitbart, the original firebrand that inspired the movement. Yiannopoulos would be able to coalesce a newer generation of fire-ants from 4Chan and the bowels of Reddit to join the conservative news website’s mission to burn everything down in the name of freedom of expression.

Over the past summer Yiannopoulos crawled into the limelight again by launching a campaign against Ghostbusters, the female-reboot of a 80s comedy, which eventually took aim at one of the stars of the film, Leslie Jones. The attack included derogatory remarks veiled with racism and sexism, and led to Jones website being hacked with personal photos leaked. His alt-right gang also created false tweets to make it appear the actress was anti-semitic. Eventually Twitter initiated a permanent ban against Yiannopoulos, in part a response to the abuse against Jones but also partially due to the website’s slow response to the slew of attacks against users during Gamergate.

All of these incidents have fueled the provocateur and his devout followers belief that they are being singled out and attacked for simply expressing their point of views. Unfortunately for victims of such verbal attacks and threats of violence, the alt-right is protected by the First Amendment also under the auspices of the Supreme Court. Some forms of hate speech are prohibited but only if they incite imminent violence, an arbitrary test that is hardly appropriated but nevertheless useless in its antiquity in a modern era when increases in online bullying have correlated with an increase in suicides.

As Breitbart editor-in-chief Stephen Bannon is named Chief Strategist in the Trump administration and an uptick in hate crimes has multiplied since the election, Milo Yiannopoulos waits in the shadows for his next chance to have his name and face plastered across the internet. Hopefully his next ventured will result in a criminal case and he will be deported for being a law-breaking immigrant. For now, he and his cohorts will defend to death their right to smear and demoralize any nonwhite queer female while crying over the burning of the flag because it’s disrespectful.