Topic 2 Micro-aggression and Human Rights

The trouble with human rights and hate speech is that often, conflicting human rights are at stake. For micro-aggression, it can be considered the same. Again and again we have to balance and weigh which conflicting human rights prevail in each specific case. For example, our right to freedom of speech can be in conflict with the right to freedom of religion or faith. Or a right to freedom of speech in conflict with the right to education. More fundamentally, there is a grey area between the right to freedom of speech and the prohibition of all forms of discrimination or abuse of freedom for spreading hate.

So for every case we have to decide which right prevails and is ‘more important’ in this specific case. Eventually in our society a judge decides. But what a judge decides is influenced by the public and political debate as they are an indicator for how the society handles micro-aggression and hate speech.