The Problems with Regulating Hate Speech | Jordan Peterson

is there such a thing as hate speech yes

obviously people say Terrible Things

reprehensible things quasi criminal

things even all the time brutal and some

of them cause a lot of trouble so the

idea that there's hateful speech it's

like yeah okay that's self-evident no

problem well let's regulate it okay fair

enough because it's hateful you know

maybe we rather that there wasn't any of

it okay no

problem who defines hate

well we'll worry about that later it's

like no you won't that's actually the

problem here's the answer to who defines

hate those people that you would least

want to have Define it that would be the

inevitable consequence of the

legislation because sensible people

won't have anything to do with that like

people who are power mad will gravitate

to that domain to make an ethical case

to exercise their controlling power over

the language of other people no and I've

had journalists say well what makes you

think that your right to free speech

trumps the right of someone to not be

offended and I think that's really the

level of our political discourse okay so

we'll run a little thought experiment so

I'm talking to one person I'm talking to

you and the rule is I don't get to

offend you okay maybe we can still have

a discussion about something difficult

but let's say I'm talking to 10 people

and and about an important thing now I

have to make sure that I don't say

anything def despite the fact that this

is an important and contentious issue

that I don't say anything that offends

even one of those 10

people okay maybe I can even manage that

what if I'm talking to a thousand people

there's going to be someone in that

thousand people there's going to be

someone who's offended at the mere fact

that I

exist so it's an impossible standard

it's like well you can't say anything

offensive okay fine then you can't say

anything okay so what you don't get to

say anything because no one should be

offended well then you don't get to

think well what happens if if you don't

think well then you can't negotiate your

way through the future and you fall into

a pit and so does everyone else so

that's where that all ends up you can't

say offensive things equals you cannot

negotiate your way properly through the

future equals everyone

suffers W that's a bad that's a bad

strategy so and it's and it's all

covered up with well you know it' be

better if no one was ever offended

it's like well who thinks that you know

how naive you have to be to think that

how you have to be pathologically naive

which is the kind of naive that you

could have grown out of but you

willfully refused to because you weren't

willing to see what was in front of your

face and then you impose that blind

naivity on everyone else because you

don't want to allow them to upset your

like Rosy view your rosy view of

yourself in the world there's it's just

there's no end to how terrible that

is