Hacker News Reader

Say that a company is called The White Power Group and is known to spew what most would consider hate speech. They bid to provide government offices with toilet paper. Should the government be allowed to turn them down?

View on HN

Yes, because at a basic level, government officials don't want money from contracts to go fund things that undermine the government itself, or the safety of its citizens.

In this case white supremacists have a long history of using violence.

Then we go down the path of deciding what hate speech legally is, what the line is before the gov't will refuse to do business with someone, etc. Not to mention the policy shifting every time POTUS switches party. What a mess.

What about Chick-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby? Hate speech? Depends on who you ask.

No. We'd define what groups are tied to domestic or foreign terrorism. For whatever reason, white power groups can't keep their hands clean of violence -- likely because violence is actually tied to their rhetoric.

If its written on the toilet paper, yes

Reply on news.ycombinator.com