Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• develop an awareness of the different ways in which hate may be promoted on the Internet
• understand that any message that puts down or demeans particular groups of people – even if it is "just a joke" – has the power to reinforce negative stereotypes and promote "othering"
• understand how using the Internet to distribute hate materials differs from traditional methods of hate mongering
• understand how multimedia capabilities of the Net provide an ideal medium from which hate groups can operate, and how that same medium can also be used by anti-hate organizations to counter hate
• understand where hate and online hate fall under Canadian law
• become familiar with the Canadian organizations that can be contacted when hate is encountered online

Preparation and Materials

For background reading, review MNet's "Online Hate" section

• Photocopy the "Spectrum of Hate" overheads
• Arrange for use of computers with Internet access (if student activities are to be conducted during class time)

Procedure

Class Discussion

In this lesson we're going to be looking at the types of hateful materials one can encounter on the Internet.

First, I'd like you to tell me what comes to mind when I say "online hate." What are some possible examples? (Have a student write answers on the board.)

• Have any of you personally encountered hateful comments or materials on the Internet? (According to MNet's 2001 survey, "Young Canadians In A Wired World," two in ten students had "come across a Web site that was really hateful to someone.")
  
  
• In what form were these messages delivered? (for example, was it flaming in a chat room or instant message? was it derogatory remarks presented as humour? was it an e-mail message? was it a Web site targeting a particular group of people?)
  
  
• How did you feel when you encountered it?
  
  
• What did you do about it? (Only 4 per cent of students in MNet's survey who had encountered hate told an adult about it.)

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. We call this range the "spectrum of hate" because many of these activities put down a group or groups of people. (Draw a horizontal line on the board. At one end, write "harmless fun" and at the other end write "hateful content.")

Look at the following examples and tell me where you would place each on the spectrum and why you'd put it there. (Depending on the maturity of students, you can show overheads of Web sites or simply describe each example with no visuals. Allow students time to consider and debate where the line should be drawn for material that: promotes hatred; may be offensive to some, but is not illegal or hateful; may be politically incorrect, but is relatively harmless.)

(Show "Spectrum of Hate" overheads.)

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? (This example – which capitalizes on the general culture of putdowns in popular entertainment – would appear at the benign end of the spectrum. It's included in the spectrum because the phrasing of the question creates an atmosphere in which negative responses are encouraged and expected.)

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?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Should we be concerned about online humour and Web content – even at the lighter end of the spectrum? Why or why not?

The important point to note is that all of these examples reinforces stereotypes or separate "us" from "them." Although these are individual examples, constant reinforcement of stereotypes about others – through media, peers, family etc. – has the power to perpetuate prejudice and to transform assumptions about particular groups of people into "realities."

A common theme in all hate ideology is the belief that one group of people is somehow intrinsically inferior to another. "The Other" is a human archetype that's common to all cultures – a way of handling insecurities about differences and reinforcing the superiority of one's own group. Acts of violence and degradation are easier to justify if the victims are considered inferior – or even subhuman. (A classic example of this is the treatment of Jewish people in Nazi Germany before and during World War II.)

Throughout history, hate, scapegoating and "othering" have existed as part of human culture. But the arrival of the Internet has added a new twist to traditional methods of spreading hateful messages.

1. In what ways does the Internet support the dissemination of hate messages?
   
   (Compared with more costly and labour-intensive methods of producing and distributing ideology through pamphlets placed in school yards or mailboxes, the Internet provides cheap and easy publication and distribution. It has the potential to reach a global audience of millions of people of all ages; it permits hate organizations to network with like-minded groups and individuals; it helps them reach young people without their parents knowing– through online music, games, message boards, etc.; it has multimedia capabilities and high-end navigation tools that can be used to create polished and professional-looking online environments. In addition, the global nature of the Internet makes it difficult to enforce the laws of one country on a Web site that's hosted in another country – a good case study of this is Ernst Zündel, who moved his revisionist Web site to a server in California when he was challenged under Canadian law.)
   
   
2. What might be some of the disadvantages of using the Internet to promote hatred?
   
   (By taking views and opinions that used to be clandestine and posting them in a public and global medium such as the Internet, hate groups are exposing themselves to public scrutiny. Hate-mongers rely on misinformation, which can be easily and openly challenged in a Web environment – that is, if you conduct a search for a hate organization, your search results are likely to produce a mix of sites that support and sites that challenge its ideology. By posting their views online, hate organizations make it easier for anti-racism and anti-hate organizations, law enforcement agencies, governments and educators to address the fallacies and prejudice in hate ideology. In addition, the same technology that permits hate-mongers to network also permits those who are opposed to hate to connect and unite.)

Activity

Although racist and hateful comments are offensive to the vast majority of Canadians, they are not necessarily prohibited under Canadian law.

• Have students visit the "Online Hate and the Law" section of the MNet Web site and summarize in their notebooks how hate speech and promotion of hate on the Internet is addressed in the Criminal Code of Canada, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Broadcasting Act and the Immigration Act.
  
  
• In addition, have students visit the "Responding to Online Hate" section and record where they can go to report hate if they encounter it online.
  
  
• Discuss student responses as a class.