Understanding Online Hate

we're going to be looking at the types of hateful materials one can encounter on the Internet. There's a bit of everything on the Internet. Web sites and activities can range from harmless fun, to bad taste, to offensive or hateful content. This range can be called the "spectrum of hate" because many of these activities put down a group or groups of people. Look at the following examples. Where you would place each on the spectrum and why you'd put it there.

Adapted from Understanding Online Hate @ www.media-awareness.ca
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  1. Example 1: This post, "Do P.E. Teachers Suck?", which appeared on a popular Canadian kids' site, invited kids to share horror stories about their phys. ed. teachers. Why might this be included in the spectrum and where would you place it?

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content


  1. Example 2: On this Web site, visitors can anonymously post photographs of people they consider ugly – without the permission of those whose photos are put online. Where would you put this on the spectrum? What are your reasons?

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content


  1. Example 3: This "joke" site, "Redneck Census Form," makes fun of the rural poor.

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content


  1. Example 4: This game section of a popular Web site features flash games where visitors can degrade and kill celebrities.

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content


  1. Example 5: In this skateboarding message board, many posts use the term "gay" in an insulting and derogatory manner.

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content


  1. Example 6: This Web site, produced by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), promotes its beliefs through a series of historical revisionist essays and by selling KKK memorabilia and literature.

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content


  1. Example 7: On this self-described "politically incorrect" Web site, visitors are invited to insert a "witty ethnic bashing" tagline to a picture of monkeys and to post what they've produced on the site.

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content


  1. Example 8: In this game, players must defend the white race by killing all non-whites and Jewish people.

     
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    harmless fun  hateful content





Mr. Murphy
Technology Teacher
Frontier Regional School