5.18민주화운동과 그에 대한 Hate Speech, 그 단상
“Allowing the broadest scope to the language and purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment, it is well understood that the right of free speech is not absolute at all times and under all circumstances. There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which has never been thought to raise any Constitutional problem. These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or ‘fighting’ words-those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.” Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 572-573 (1942)
“ … the reason why fighting words are categorically excluded from the protection of the First Amendment is not that their content communicates any particular idea, but that their content embodies a particularly intolerable (and socially unnecessary) mode of expressing whatever idea the speaker wishes to convey.” Scalia’s opinion R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
일베에서 5.18광주민주화운동의 피해자 사진에 대해 홍어를 널어놓은 것이라고 표현했다.
인간의 존엄에 대한 존중의 결여, 라고 생각하는 것은 역시 contents에 대한 분노이다. 이에 대한 표현의 자유를 들먹이는 것 역시 contents 때문이겠다. 그러나 what if these fighting words is “by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace”? (논란의 여지는 있겠으나) We all know that the right of free speech is not absolute, even in the United States.
한국에서 일어난 사안에 대한 반응으로 표현의 자유가 거의 신앙과도 같은 미국이라는 나라의 대법원 판결을, 그것도 Scalia 의 의견을 읽고 있는 것은 분명 미국의 판결문이 더 친숙한 나의 한계이다. 이런 미국에도 표현의 자유의 한계는 존재한다.




