The assumption that the Nazis rose to power in Germany due to the Weimar Republic's tolerance of their hateful rhetoric is a fallacy, as there were laws criminalizing such speech that were strictly enforced. These laws backfired and became a public relations coup for the Nazis, who claimed they were being punished for speaking truth to power. Once the Nazis seized power, they used these same laws to silence and jail their opponents. Germany's contemporary hate speech laws have also gone awry, with examples of dissenting speech being punished and satirical messages being censored. Censoring hateful speech does not suppress the underlying ideas; instead, we must confront and oppose bigotry and discrimination directly.