Hate Speech

"Rita Kirk Whillock and David Slayden's Hate Speech provides a scholarly, well-done book exploring the circumstances, politics, rhetoric, and nature of hate speech and its institutionalization. From gay rights to rape narratives, this volume examines a wide range of speeches and their results."
--The Midwest Book Review

"Hate Speech is an important text for those who study and/or promote the expression of ideas in a democratic style. It provides a clear justification for the recognition that hatred serves political and social ends: Whether we approve of the speech or not is less critical than understanding the role that hatred plays in society; hatred serves as a warning that all is not well in the community and simply repressing its expression through legal sanctions does little to erase the social conditions that prompt its use."
--Raymie McKerrow, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Maine

"This scholarly and well-researched book is required reading for anyone interested in a thorough understanding of how hate is manifested and expressed. The varied perspectives presented in Hate Speech are as timely as they are illuminating. If our free, but increasingly complex, society is to fashion meaningful responses to the continuing existence of hate, this is the type of analysis we will need to undertake the task."
--Morris Dees, Cofounder and Chief Trial Counsel, Southern Poverty Law Center

Hate is a powerful and magnetic force in American culture. The expression of hate, whether verbal or physical compels attention and engenders disgust. This volume bravely explores the voice of rage--in the media, popular culture, political rhetoric, and in public and personal realms. In a candid view from multiple perspectives, including but not limited to the perpetrators and victims of rancor, Hate Speech explores ways in which hate is rationalized, invoked, expressed, and institutionalized. Critically and carefully, the contributors examine some of the most provocative issues of our time--gay rights, abortion, affirmative action--and the ways that they incite hatred and polarized positions. This in-depth analysis of how hatred festers and explodes within our culture will help us all to better understand the historical, theoretical, and practical realities of the incredible force of hatred. Hate is a topic that fascinates and repels people. Hate Speech provides a powerful way to look at issues of communication, ethics, and society. An original and insightful discussion-sparker, this book can be used as a supplement in a range of courses from communication to sociology to ethics and philosophy. Courses in race relations, popular culture, and mass media should also adopt this timely volume.