On the ladder of prejudice, the steps may be short between speaking against a group and attacking it physically. Since prejudice begins on the level of speech, that would seem the best place to stop it. Yet in countries such as Great Britain, the United States, France, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and even West Germany today, free speech is guaranteed to all. Relying on this guarantee, racists and neo-Nazis claim the right to preach whatever they believe, no matter how violent or undemocratic it is. Anarchists, who believe that all government should be abolished, claim the right to teach people how to revolt against government and destroy it.
Communists claim the right to preach Communist takeover of government.
This problem faces us each time a racist or fascist group takes to the streets to hold a parade, or each time a public speech is made preaching racism. It has been suggested that we draw a line between speech that is used as a weapon, and speech that is used to share ideas. But this difference is subtle and often difficult to determine. In a way, this seeming weakness of democracy is also one of its strengths. In a healthy democracy the exchange of ideas allows for many opinions to be shared.