It is 10 pm Thursday night. I just got out of class and wanted to talk about a documentary we watched called; hate.com. In a nutshell, it discussed how hate groups have utilized the internet to perpetuate their doctrine. The internet allows them free speech and more importantly, global access to impressionable people. The documentary presented several examples of hate crimes that were inspired by this internet based propaganda. It also had interviews with those who set up these sites, often proclaiming they had done so in the name of God
My initial reaction was laughter, not at the crimes, but at the rhetoric spouted be these hate site creators. My thought was surely, people don't believe this stuff. Anyone with minimal intelligence would see through the lies. When I heard one of the "pastors" of these churches calling for a global purification, I thought of the crusades of the middle ages-people committing crimes in the name of God. These "pastors" don't understand the bible, or the teachings of Christ, who they claim to be committing these crimes for. It is difficult for me to believe there are people out there who would fall for these charlatans.
So my question(s) is, what is our responsibility when it comes to preventing these types of crimes? Should we shut down these websites? Should we prosecute the leaders? What responsibility do we have to prevent this type of hate? What can you or I as one person do?
3 comments:
I was so creeped out after watching that video- especially the 11 yr. old with the website. For one thing, these kinds of websites should be removed from the public eye- and from the internet- I think they're nuts!
Educate others... that's what I think should be done. You can't take away someone's freedom of speech... but you can educate your family, children, friends about the ignorance and terrible hate that exists out there. You'd be surprised what one person can do.
Yeah I'm with everyone on this one...that video was really creepy and disgusting. I wish we could shut down those sites but if we do that where do we draw the line about other sites that offend people? cutekitties.com could be shut down because someone out there may take offense to the little cute fur balls!
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