Zabohad: And this is where you (and jamyskis and others, on both sides of the discussion) are mistaken. Gravely, dangerously mistaken.
The actual "hate speech" doesn't create a hate. It express already existing sentiments. If people are applauding the speech full of hate, it's because they finally hear something they already want to hear (in Hitler's times or today, all the same).
Make "hate speech" illegal might by good idea as a precaution (although I doubt it is worth the risk), for the same reason it isn't allowed carrying open fire on the site of car accident. But it only slightly lower the risk of fire. Don't kid yourself or anyone else that petrol stops to be flammable when you douse off the match.
And again you seemingly and simply don't even understand what the heck "hate speech" actually is, and quite honestly, I'm tired of explaining it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again because the actual definition doesn't fit into some people's narrow mindset.
So, one final time, for those that weren't listening:
Hate speech is not defined by the very act of saying something. Hate speech in a legal context is defined by the intent and consequences behind it. It is a form of defamation. It is defined in legislation as deliberate and intentional harm to another party caused by an utterance on the basis of their state of being. To be clear:
there is no legislation in the United States or any EU member state that deviates from this doctrine. Of the legislation that I am more intimately familiar with, all of them classify hate speech as breaches of the peace or public order offences.
If we eliminated every crime that was committed by way of the spoken or written word, we'd have to stop punishing blackmail, intimidation, death threats, perjury, fraud and incitement to commit murder.
So, once again, for those that weren't paying attention:
There is a very good reason why free speech only encompasses prior restraint without limitations. If we exempted everyone from the consequences of their verbal utterances, the whole legal system would fall apart by virtue of it having one big fucker of a loophole. Not even the United States provides comprehensive protection against subsequent punishment - the doctrines of "incitement" and "fighting words" in the US legal system are used to define incitements of breaches of the peace, and even the most conservative justices in United States history have held to this interpretation of the First Amendment.
This isn't a concept that's up for debate. It's a fundamental pillar of law. Disputing this is like claiming water isn't wet.
Of course hate speech legislation can be abused. All legislation can be abused for intimidation purposes. A woman could falsely accuse a man of rape. Does that mean we should eliminate rape laws? Of course it doesn't. It's the job of the courts to sniff out abuse of process and nip it in the bud before it happens. Laws exist to resolve social problems that society at large cannot resolve independently. Society had its chance to resolve these problems, and it failed. That is why these laws exist.
Anyway, I'm done with this discussion now, as the denial of simple facts is just making it go in circles. Hate speech legislation is well-anchored in various nations' legislation and has been for decades, and in fact, the United States had it well before we in Europe did. I'll be happy to discuss potential abuses of such legislation and the problems inherent in overcoming these, or the manner in which hate speech should be defined, but if people wish to engage in a circlejerk with their conspiracy theories about how hate speech is somehow indicative of a dictatorship, I won't be baited any more by it. It seems to me that people are abusing the principle of free speech as an excuse to intimidate people of different races, religions and genders.