Online hate speech has increased by 20% in the UK over the last 18 months.

[Saphire]

"Online hate speech has increased by 20% in the UK since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research.

Anti-bullying charity Ditch The Label reviewed 263 million online conversations in the UK and US on social media sites, blogs and forums between 2019 and mid-2021."

 

[Saphire]

Have people just turned nastier since the pandemic began, taking their frustrations out on the anonymous online. or are others just too sensitive now, and something they may have shrugged off once, now is taken as racist, sexist, ageist, fattist, and or any other 'ist' that people can pin a label on?

 

[SamBally]

Millions more people with a lot more time on their hands will have logged on during lockdown so does that really mean hate speech, in general, has increased overall. Or is it simply because much more people were logged on with those preexisting kinds of views anyway.

What are the previous statistics that these latest figures are being compared against and what is the definition of hate speech being applied by Ditch The Label. What is the yardstick they are using to measure hate speech. Is calling someone a fat twat online measured as hate speech alongside racism, or threats of violence and rape, etc?

The current tory regime has been extremely slow to respond to this particular issue for glaringly dubious reasons. One of them being for example, on the eve of the election in 2019, the internet giant Facebook ran numerous tory ads demoniZing Corbyn courtesy of a barrage of false information and subtly disguised as "real" news. None fact-checked by Facebook before they were aired. Any serious legislation tackling hate speech will have a knock-on effect of curtailing this 'new' political weapon being abused by the tory regime and also the internet giants themselves who are much more interested in income streams than the actual truth.

Another fairly recent example of political skullduggery and the deliberate manipulation of hate speech statistics is the totally false accusation of a huge rise in antisemitism under Corbyn and against his supporters. Which was total bullshit but I won't go into detail again here and now. My point is statistics regarding hate speech are very easily manipulated to suit a particular political stance.

 

[Saphire]

I think you make some good points there, and like you say it depends on which yardstick recent rises in 'hate speech' is measured against.
I imagine the BLM movement generated quite a lot of racial insults, from both sides... white and black.

 

[Saphire]

A BBC report lists some of the subjects that have garnered lots of abuse.

"The report found that these conversations spiked around major news events.
These included the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic in March 2020, the Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020 and the murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021".

 

[Wojcik]

"Hate Speech" rules and laws are a sticky subject. They sounds like a solution, but they can be used and abused by individuals who may not agree with your viewpoints or ideologies. I mean what's stopping them from pulling up a Tweet or a comment from years ago, contacting their current employer, and attempting to ruin their lives? This is a subject that isn't black or white, and instead there are shades of grey.

Also, governments could use new speech laws to silence public opinion on their corruption, through threats of violence, and in some cases, even threaten death. Which is why free speech and freedom of expression is so important. Silencing speech only forces people who discriminate others for whatever reason, and will only do it incognito. Perhaps an employer refuses a candidate during an interview based on their skin colour or gender, even though they have the necessary experience and qualifications for the job.

I've also experience people who have treated me differently because I happen to have a Polish surname, but even then i oppose silencing someone's speech, even if i find them offensive. That doesn't mean they can get away with what they've said, as i may want to express my disdain for what they've said or have been ignorant about.

On BLM. I do support the sentiment and the message, but the open Marxist ideology and multi-billion dollar organisation, I'm against.
I know something about Communism, as my late Polish grandmother told me a story about how the Soviet Union executed my late grandfather's siblings, right in front of him. I was told horror stories about what happened when the Germans and the Russians invaded their land.

And i think we have to take personal responsibility. If it gets too much for us, especially online, we must remove ourselves from that situation. Whether that's taking a break from social media or the internet in general, people need a break from it sometimes. I think we're more self-obsessed with ourselves today, and i think that's the real problem.

 

[hell2bwith76]

"Online hate speech has increased by 20% in the UK since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research.

Yeahhh !! i know about that ! Just read my latest Thread about chatroom improvements and it`s pretty obvious that there`s a fair amount of "hate" in some of the responses to the thread !
Without reason too.

 

[Saphire]

Yeahhh !! i know about that ! Just read my latest Thread about chatroom improvements and it`s pretty obvious that there`s a fair amount of "hate" in some of the responses to the thread !
Without reason too.

I have read the thread, I even posted in the thread, but the response I got from you was odd to say the least..

 

[Saphire]

"Hate Speech" rules and laws are a sticky subject. They sounds like a solution, but they can be used and abused by individuals who may not agree with your viewpoints or ideologies. I mean what's stopping them from pulling up a Tweet or a comment from years ago, contacting their current employer, and attempting to ruin their lives? This is a subject that isn't black or white, and instead there are shades of grey.

Also, governments could use new speech laws to silence public opinion on their corruption, through threats of violence, and in some cases, even threaten death. Which is why free speech and freedom of expression is so important. Silencing speech only forces people who discriminate others for whatever reason, and will only do it incognito. Perhaps an employer refuses a candidate during an interview based on their skin colour or gender, even though they have the necessary experience and qualifications for the job.

I've also experience people who have treated me differently because I happen to have a Polish surname, but even then i oppose silencing someone's speech, even if i find them offensive. That doesn't mean they can get away with what they've said, as i may want to express my disdain for what they've said or have been ignorant about.

On BLM. I do support the sentiment and the message, but the open Marxist ideology and multi-billion dollar organisation, I'm against.
I know something about Communism, as my late Polish grandmother told me a story about how the Soviet Union executed my late grandfather's siblings, right in front of him. I was told horror stories about what happened when the Germans and the Russians invaded their land.

And i think we have to take personal responsibility. If it gets too much for us, especially online, we must remove ourselves from that situation. Whether that's taking a break from social media or the internet in general, people need a break from it sometimes. I think we're more self-obsessed with ourselves today, and i think that's the real problem.

There can be a fine line drawn between free speech and hate speech.
Clamp down on free speech and we will live in an oppressive society...and who wants that?

What one person may see as hate speech, someone else may see as a joke at best an insult at worse.
There are, in my opinion, glaringly obvious double standards both on and offline. A woman can be called all the mysogynistic names under the sun, but any derogatory mention of a persons race or colour is treated with horror.

 

[hell2bwith76]

I have read the thread, I even posted in the thread, but the response I got from you was odd to say the least..

You said that you didn`t get a response from me .

 

[Saphire]

You said that you didn`t get a response from me .

You asked for suggestions, I offered some, you ignored my post preferring to argue with others and complain that no one was offering suggestions.
Only when I pointed this out did you respond....with a post that made no sense at all.

Can we get off your pet subject now... and discuss the actual topic?

 

[hell2bwith76]

You asked for suggestions, I offered some, you ignored my post preferring to argue with others and complain that no one was offering suggestions.
Only when I pointed this out did you respond....with a post that made no sense at all.

Can we get off your pet subject now... and discuss the actual topic?

My "pet" subject is brought about by the members here who just want to rile me . I don`t take the bait always.
My own thread was an open invite for other members who ,like myself ,have found it sometimes difficult to make headway in the chatrooms due to an excess of "chat" going on . It was never meant to be "all about me " . The intent was to get ideas from anyone who might have ideas for improvements .Admin have now stated openly that they will listen to all suggestions so why not make a few ?.I`m sure that Admin are perfectly capable of making rational decisions .

 

[Saphire]

My "pet" subject is brought about by the members here who just want to rile me . I don`t take the bait always.
My own thread was an open invite for other members who ,like myself ,have found it sometimes difficult to make headway in the chatrooms due to an excess of "chat" going on . It was never meant to be "all about me " . The intent was to get ideas from anyone who might have ideas for improvements .Admin have now stated openly that they will listen to all suggestions so why not make a few ?.I`m sure that Admin are perfectly capable of making rational decisions .

Yes, and you have started a thread about that, this is about a completely different subject.
Online hate speech.

I have noticed on forums, some people are passive aggressive, they often rile people then play the victim when they get more robust answers....is that you by any chance?

I have seen insults being thrown about, I don't compare that to hate speech or bullying,

 

[SamBally]

I think you make some good points there, and like you say it depends on which yardstick recent rises in 'hate speech' is measured against.
I imagine the BLM movement generated quite a lot of racial insults, from both sides... white and black.

I agree BLM and Covid etc probably all played a part in the rise. A perfect storm if you like when various contentious issues randomly overlapped each other. The conundrum is that people already have those preexisting views offline and the internet is merely a vehicle, or a more convenient platform, to air them to a wider audience. The process that measured this issue in this specific instance is arguably inherently flawed because it refers specifically to the internet (I assume) and to that 'perfect storm' over the past few years and not throughout society on an average year (or five years etc).

Clearly, the huge rise in internet growth has bamboozled governments on a global basis and who are often slow to act anyway in regards to introducing new legislation with regard to modern technology. Or if they do they go overboard with a kneejerk overreaction, it is a fine balancing act protecting so-called freedom of speech alongside censorship. The likes of Amazon overtly avoid taxation by exploiting existing legislation and further lining the pockets of the likes of Jeff Bezos who incredulously pocketed upwards of 70 BILLION during Covid. Too many extremely powerful people have a vested interest in keeping the internet as censorship-free as possible and I suspect any new legislation that is introduced will be watered down bullshit that puts political interests first and foremost.

 

[hell2bwith76]

I have noticed on forums, some people are passive aggressive, they often rile people then play the victim when they get more robust answers....is that you by any chance?

No ,it`s not me . It is what i get accused of by members and most of the staff too but they don`t bother to read what was written "about " me prior to me responding . I have quite a few "guests", who i don`t know at all, PM me in chatrooms to say how they notice that some members in the rooms get "bullied" for no reason and they have given me a short list of names of the people who they ( the guest!) notice getting regularly bullied. Unfortunately the staff don`t notice this and just as often it`s the one being picked on who ends up being banned ,for retaliating !.

 

[Saphire]

I agree BLM and Covid etc probably all played a part in the rise. A perfect storm if you like when various contentious issues randomly overlapped each other. The conundrum is that people already have those preexisting views offline and the internet is merely a vehicle, or a more convenient platform, to air them to a wider audience. The process that measured this issue in this specific instance is arguably inherently flawed because it refers specifically to the internet (I assume) and to that 'perfect storm' over the past few years and not throughout society on an average year (or five years etc).

Clearly, the huge rise in internet growth has bamboozled governments on a global basis and who are often slow to act anyway in regards to introducing new legislation with regard to modern technology. Or if they do they go overboard with a kneejerk overreaction, it is a fine balancing act protecting so-called freedom of speech alongside censorship. The likes of Amazon overtly avoid taxation by exploiting existing legislation and further lining the pockets of the likes of Jeff Bezos who incredulously pocketed upwards of 70 BILLION during Covid. Too many extremely powerful people have a vested interest in keeping the internet as censorship-free as possible and I suspect any new legislation that is introduced will be watered down bullshit that puts political interests first and foremost.

I agree that if a person is not prone to have racist, sexist, whatever 'ist' views to begin with, they are unlikely to log on and spout them over the internet.
People who are, and have had to keep them contained in their day to day lives, can have a field say spouting all their bile anonymously...sadly that's one of the down sides to the internet.

I don't know much about Jeff Bozos, but I know he isn't the only one who has made fortunes out of the pandemic.
One man's poison is another man's opportunity to line his pockets at their expense.

 

[hell2bwith76]

I don`t mind anyone lining their pockets by whatever method but as long as it isn`t at the expense of the poorer people of the Planet.

 

[Saphire]

No ,it`s not me . It is what i get accused of by members and most of the staff too but they don`t bother to read what was written "about " me prior to me responding . I have quite a few "guests", who i don`t know at all, PM me in chatrooms to say how they notice that some members in the rooms get "bullied" for no reason and they have given me a short list of names of the people who they ( the guest!) notice getting regularly bullied. Unfortunately the staff don`t notice this and just as often it`s the one being picked on who ends up being banned ,for retaliating !.

I don't know about the chatrooms, I know what I see on the forum.

If members and most of the staff here don't take your complaints seriously, either you are the master of your own downfall...or you are on the wrong forum.

In my exchanges with you, I don't believe I have insulted you, but you have said several nasty comments to me....so maybe look to yourself before you point the finger.

 

[SamBally]

I don't know much about Jeff Bozos, but I know he isn't the only one who has made fortunes out of the pandemic.
One man's poison is another man's opportunity to line his pockets at their expense.

As a collective billionaires made upwards of 1 TRILLION during Covid. My point about Bozos is the intertwined, incestuous relationship between capitalists like Bozos and government (globally) in the here and now. That astronomical wealth and the power it affords is dictating what actual level of legislation is introduced or not. There is good reason why the likes of Nick Clegg (ex-deputy PM) now work the likes of Facebook.

 

[Saphire]

As a collective billionaires made upwards of 1 TRILLION during Covid. My point about Bozos is the intertwined, incestuous relationship between capitalists like Bozos and government (globally) in the here and now. That astronomical wealth and the power it affords is dictating what actual level of legislation is introduced or not. There is good reason why the likes of Nick Clegg (ex-deputy PM) now work the likes of Facebook.

It's scary to think that none of us know who is really running the world. I believe governments are just the 'yes men' for the all powerful behind the scenes figures.
It's obscene that so few people hold so much wealth...and wealth = power.