Is speech an act? (Earth, beliefs, followers, minority)

[Ozzie]

Acts of speech that incite hatred are actionable in court of law. However what are these? And how do they differ from acts of free speech that ought not to be actionable in court? How is any speech act comparable to a physical act?

[YamiB.]

I do not know where the line is drawn in courts, but I think it should be limited to inciting violence or severe harassment. I suppose I'll come up with an example involving racism. If the lead figure of a skinhead group speak to a group and tell them that they need to go and wipe the mud races from the earth and following this murders are commited against people of a minority race by these individuals, then the speaker must bear some responsibility.

[Ozzie]

Originally Posted by YamiB.

I do not know where the line is drawn in courts, but I think it should be limited to inciting violence or severe harassment. I suppose I'll come up with an example involving racism. If the lead figure of a skinhead group speak to a group and tell them that they need to go and wipe the mud races from the earth and following this murders are commited against people of a minority race by these individuals, then the speaker must bear some responsibility.

Would the skinhead leader be a free speech advocate? Your example is pretty clear cut. But many situations are not.

For instance there is currently a thread running in Religious debates putting forth the proposition that men and women have different fates, based on the teachings of famism. If someone reading this material accepts it on face value and then proceeds to treat men and women differently based on these beliefs, are the authors of this religious perspective guilty of inciting discriminatory behaviour. Is their responsibility in propagating difference in treatment on gender grounds serious enough to warrant legal remedy?

Or is it better to allow them to put forward whatever case they want for a different fate for men and women, thereby upholding their right to religious expression over consequences perpetrated by followers?