Anti-child hate speech

I'm openly not a fan of hate speech laws. These laws give the government the power to silence speech based on something as arbitrary as what they consider to qualify as hate.

Hate speech isn't confined to government, but a common theme persists. We are trying to silence others based on a limited group's perceptions of hate. What qualifies as hate speech can vary quite drastically depending on who you ask.

If we really insist on suppressing hate speech, perhaps we should try to protect a vulnerable and voiceless segment of the population, children. If you pay attention, there are a lot of people saying downright harmful things about children purely because they are children. An obvious example would be the negative connotation when people are called childish.

There are some less obvious examples. Do you remember when Joe Biden insisted that he liked children more than he liked people? That might sound good on the surface, but what kind of backlash would someone receive if he says that he liked black people more than humans? The bottom line is that Biden promoted the narrative that children are not people.

I have seen something similar from a teacher. The message was along the lines of enjoying seeing children become people. If we truly believe in fighting hate speech, how can that possibly be acceptable?

If we fought anti-child hate speech, teachers would likely be among the biggest offenders. These are adults who believe in trapping children in mental prisons where they are deprived of fundamental rights and freedoms. Promoting compulsory education, the way teachers mean it, could easily be classified as a form of hate speech.

There are a lot of terms that could be viewed as extensions of compulsory education. Teachers villainize children who fight the compulsory components by arguing about the dangers of school refusal, also known as chronic absenteeism. They insist on ending the dropout crisis, which they view as a problem if any child escapes their clutches.

There are more subtle ways in which teachers promote anti-child hatred. Take a look at talks about grade levels. Teachers are frequently pushing the idea that age is sufficient to define a child. They have dehumanized children so much that they are frequently seen as nothing more than their ages.

Anti-child hate speech isn't just something that can make people uncomfortable. Our words have helped normalize government-sanctioned child abuse. We are forcing children through an environment that systematically assaults their mental health. In some cases, these assaults can even lead to lethal events such as shootings and suicides.

If people really want to fight back against hate speech, perhaps we should take advantage of the opportunity. I haven't read the terms of service for all the social media platforms, but many do have policies against hate speech. Depending on the wording, maybe we should start reporting anti-child hate speech. Of course, we would probably get some backlash for that. The NEA and AFT are powerful organizations, and there is no way they would support the suppression of their hate.