Holocaust Survivor On Balancing Free Speech With Hate Speech: 'We Have To Have Limitations'
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – How do you balance free speech with hate speech?
White nationalist Richard Spencer's visit to the University of Florida is an example of that fragile balance.
For survivors of the Holocaust, an act of hate at its absolute worst, the answer is obviously difficult.
"As much as I am grateful for the liberties and freedoms we have in the United States, I still feel tremendously strong we have to have limitations," said Hanna Kovanic. "Other people take example from those incidents and things tend to repeat themselves."
Kovanic is concerned that hateful messages lead to hateful acts. As for freedom of speech, she says accommodating it comes with a cost.
"We have to spend all this money on police and guards and you name it," she said. "Freedoms, to some extent, being taken away from decent people because they cannot do what they do before."
Survivor Julius Eisenstein is "sick and tired" of the hateful speech.
"I respect the United States. That's the only free country I can say whatever I want to say. But I should not be allowed to lies and hate. It's unbelievable," he said. "I don't want you to like me. If you don't like me, I have no problem with that. But why do you have to hate me?"
