Stop The Hate Before It Is Too Late! — 5 Smart Ways To Fight It
When I saw my favorite comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen, recently making a serious, alarming statement at the ADL (Anti Defamation League), I sat up and took notice!
Normally, I would just laugh at his puerile and infantile humor as he himself describes his style of wit. But this was different.
He basically said that Facebook would have allowed Hitler to run ads in favor of the final solution!
The problem is that Facebook is falling down on the job of properly monitoring political ads on its platform.
He described Facebook as
“the greatest propaganda machine in history.”
There are many other propaganda machines all dishing out the same old bigotry, bias, extremism, terrorism, and hatred. You can read Sacha’s transcript here.
What does Mark Zuckerberg think?
You know Sacha is right when you watch Mr. Facebook squirm when asked about this very problem at a Congressional hearing. You can watch the video here where he is questioned by Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez.
When he says that
“We don’t actually appoint independent fact-checkers”,
we know that facts are not checked. This contrasts sharply with his statement:
“Lying is bad.”
You can read their hate speech policy statement here on Facebook
“We do not allow hate speech on Facebook because it creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion and in some cases may promote real-world violence.”
Sounds great but if none of the facts are checked, it is like leaving the tap open all night. I honestly think though that the complexity of checking these facts would be way too difficult and expensive, so better to ban them altogether.
Twitter is moving in the right direction.
As we can see from The Atlantic report, Twitter is no longer allowing political ads although they were never a major source of income for them. Donald Trump has used its platform free of charge, but of course, they are not paid ads. They are just tweets!
But how long can Twitter justify these hateful and racist tweets from POTUS?
Even before he was elected President, Donald Trump indulged in spreading hate. A fine example and he was even given the top prize! Look at this hate map from 2015.
Latinos, immigrants, Muslim-American are just a few of the targeted minorities.
He continues in his racist rhetoric now as President. He attacked Democrat women of color (all US citizens!) when he tweeted that they
“should go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
It is totally disheartening to read this racist trash from the President of the United States.
It is useless to sit back and whine. We need to actually do something to show that we want this to stop.
Here are 5 smart ways you and I can stop the rot from spreading:
1. Report any incident offline.
Are people discriminating and harassing others on the basis of their race, religion or sexual orientation? This could be on the street, in shops, or on public transport. The ADL site has a handy form here which is very easy to submit.
2. Report any incidences of hatred online.
There is an excellent site called No Hate Speech Movement which will give you advice on how to report cyber-hate. You can also sign petitions.
3. Start counter-messaging.
Dedicate a little time every day to try to counter the hatred by using the comments sections on many social media platforms. This excellent site gives you some great resources to help you get started.
4. Get involved.
Join a local group, when and if you can so you can become actively involved. There is a list of groups and events in the UK here. In the US, the site called Erase the Hate allows you to sign up and volunteer in your local area.
You may wonder whether spreading hatred is legal or illegal? This varies from country to country. UK citizens break the law if they are found to be inciting racial hatred, even on a foreign site. Sadly, the US does not yet have a law against those who incite racial hatred.
5. Help victims of hate crimes.
This may be a neighbor or somebody suggested by your local group. The New York State Police has an excellent list of activities for young people and adults can do. These include:
- Say hello to somebody who looks different.
- Organize a Day of Dialog when you can brainstorm ideas on how to stop hate crimes in your community.
- Reject stereotypes when you can.
- Start a school crime watch program.
Let’s not just sit back and condemn all the hate verbally. We need to get involved even if it is just countering the hate messages on social media. At least we are taking action.
“Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.” ― John Steinbeck
