By Esther Kolade
Hate speech is a public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. It denigrates a person on the basis of membership in a social group.
Typical hate speeches involve epithets and slurs, statement that promotes malicious stereotypes. It can also include non-verbal depiction and symbols. These hate speeches cause psychological harm to its victims and physical harm when it incites violence but it also undermines the social equality of its victims. The targets of hate speech have, therefore, suffered from social marginalisation and oppression.
The traditional liberal position regarding hate speech is to permit it under the auspices of freedom of expression. Although those who take that position acknowledge the odious nature of the message of hate speech, they maintain that state censorship is a cure that causes more harm than the disease of bigoted expression. Hate speech is not merely the expression of ideas, but rather it is an effective means of socially subordinating its victims. When aimed at historically oppressed minorities, hate speech is not merely insulting but also perpetuates their oppression by causing the victims, the perpetrators and society at large to internalize the hateful message and act accordingly. Hate speech, in conjunction with a boarder system of inequalities and unjust discrimination that burdens the victims, effectively silences them.
In Nigeria, the Hate speech bill is being deliberated and upon passage into law that could mean death or life imprisonment for offenders. The bill states that“ a person who uses, publishes, presents produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and or visual which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour commits an offence if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against any person or person from such an ethnic group in Nigeria. Any person who commits an offence under this section shall be liable to life imprisonment and where the act causes any loss of life, the person shall be punished with death by hanging. In this section, ethnic hatred means hatred against a group of persons from any ethical group indigenous today Nigeria.”
There is no cure for hate speech, but there is a way to stand up against it. Speak out against hate speech. Fight against racism and bigotry with love, empathy and strength. We may not be able to eliminate hatred entirely, but the more steps we can take to educate and support human beings and speak out against injustice, the better this world will become.
Esther is a student of Mass Communication, Anchor University, Lagos
Credit: GuardianNG
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