Web sites should not tolerate hate speech, columnist says
Internet sites that allow commenting should do a better job of barring hate speech, writes Michael Gerson in the Washington Post.
“User-driven content on the Internet often consists of bullying, conspiracy theories and racial prejudice,” Gerson writes. “The absolute freedom of the medium paradoxically encourages authoritarian impulses to intimidate and silence others. The least responsible contributors see their darkest tendencies legitimated and reinforced, while serious voices are driven away by the general ugliness.”
He quotes Clive Hamilton, an ethicist, as saying that while “the Internet should represent a great flourishing of democratic participation … it doesn’t.
“The brutality of public debate on the Internet is due to one fact above all — the option of anonymity. The belligerence would not be tolerated if the perpetrators’ identities were known because they would be rebuffed and criticized by those who know them. Free speech without accountability breeds dogmatism and confrontation.”
Jean is projects editor at the Post-Dispatch. She is a member of Bridges Across Racial Polarization, a group devoted to creating friendships and fostering communication among racial and cultural groups in the community. After growing up in a small town in Kansas, she lived in Kansas City and Wilmington, Del., before moving to St. Louis in 2004. She and her husband, Dan Wiggs, live in University City. 
How do you seperate those people who want to talk about the race issue from those that are “racist”? For some, any mention of any color is a reason to scream, “Racism!”. Especially if it is something they don’t agree with. Also, there is no law against being a racist. Sure, I can’t discriminate against a particular group, but I don’t have to like them (not that I do, not like “them” that is), and speaking my mind about it would be protected speach.
As a kid , i was raised in a Black neighbor-hood, most of my friends were black..
I’ve allways had trouble understanding Race hate in general!
You’ve got bad Whites, bad blacks, bad latinos, bad asians..
We always called somebody a Ni__er whether white or black, just depended on how acted & treated other people.
As i’ve grown older i see where blacks have a problem with the Ni__er word.
So out of repect for my old friends i tend not to use it, unless i figure all 14 or 15 of us would say the same thing.
But see that’s just kids, & how we’re brought up! We got along & respected each other.
Today parents don’t raise their kids right, & they go off & get in trouble, by hanging with the wrong kind of people!
Then they deny any wrong-doing when the kid goes to jail or juvenile detetion center. It’s always someone else’s fault!
I was raised in way that we just thought everyone should get along.
Hello
OlPal…….Thank you thank you for your reply! I appreciate people like you.
Mslady1951
–People should use their own names while posting comments. It would create incentive for civility and self-moderation. However an open-forum should allow freedom of expression, and let the posters’ words stand or fall on their own merit.
–Some site-boards have a reader rating system based on civility or fairness. That would be a way for readers to self-police the “town-square”.
Rude, personal, or off-topic discussion could be eliminated or self-edited by the users’ rating system.
ITS CALLED FREEDOM OF THE PRESS!!!ALL VIEWS SHOULD BE ACCEPTED AND DEBATED-IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT GO TO SOME COMMIE COUNTRY LIKE CHINA,NORTH KOREA OR IRAN WHERE THEY WILL CUT YOUR HEAD OFF IF YOU SPEAK YOUR PEACE!!!
ITS CALLED FREEDOM OF THE PRESS!!!ALL VIEWS SHOULD BE ACCEPTED AND DEBATED-IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT GO TO SOME COMMIE COUNTRY LIKE CHINA,NORTH KOREA OR IRAN WHERE THEY WILL CUT YOUR HEAD OFF IF YOU SPEAK YOUR PEACE!!!
Steve-thanks for putting that thought-provoking comment ALL IN CAPS–really lets us know how ANGRY AND SERIOUS you are about this issue.
Might wanna brush up on your facts though-this has NOTHING to do with freedom of the press-that deals with the GOVERNMENT’s restraint in stopping citizens from voicing their opinions in public forums…this isn’t a public forum-it is a corporate-run web site. The PD could (and probably should) stop the commenting function at any time at their leisure.
But thanks for showing your ignorance about a basic issue-you’re not alone…Sarah Palin often gets this confused as well…and we all know how brilliant and incisive she is!
Memo to Mr. Gerson:
If the mainstream media would do their job and report the truth, then maybe this wouldn’t be an issue. Hiding behind the race card doesn’t work anymore pal. Will we see this on the nightly news:
http://www.infowars.com/video-from-g20-the-corporate-media-will-never-show-you/
Face it, your gettng your ass kicked by the internet because you no longer have a monopoly on what gets presented to the American people. You know it too. Your pathetic attempt to demonize bloggers is all the proof one needs.
Although there are a number of people who will express their views in the vilest and most offensive terms possible regardless of anonymity, I believe that one of the major contributing factors to Internet hate verbage is the result of being able to communicate anonymously. We have reduced ourselves to anger, hatred, irresponsible statements, downright lies and crudeness and disrespect. I find most websites to be populated by a subgroup of inarticulate, missinformed and narrow-minded individuals who feel that they should be permitted to say anything they desire under the pretense of exercising their constitutional rights. If one believes that the framers of the Constitution had these types of diatribes in mind when they crafted the concept of free speech, then you have not read the principles that underlie our basic foundational documents (Paine, Jefferson, Adams, etc.). We have abandoned civility for rudeness, tolerance for intolerance and compassion for hatred. Our nation has always prided itself on being open to diverse ideas and peoples. I can’t imagine where we would be today if we had founded this nation on the kinds of behaviors and actions that characterize us today.I submit that it’s time to stop hiding behind the false protection of anonymity and eliminate blogs that permit false names. Just as the editorial page requires identification of the writer, so the blog should have the same standard.
I don’t think North Korea or Iran are communist countries. One is a totalitarian dictatorship, the other is an “Islamic Republic”, run by mullahs. Also, you mean “speak your piece”. Also, “freedom of the press” as guaranteed by the constitution, has nothing to do with the citizenry sounding off on everything the press covers. That would be more like freedom of speech - but neither one of those things obligates any publication to give every individual a platform from which to shout their opinions, observations, etc. Isn’t that what blogs/personal websites are for, if you have to do that sort of thing on the internet?
Also, that local sports figure is a MORON, and the animals that did this should be drug out in the street and shot, and keep your taxes off mah land, and RACISM.
Shocking videos Visible! I never thought I would see the day when our own military and police are in full riot gear throwing tear gas and using high tech sound weapons against its own people. If I hadn’t known I would have sworn this was shot in China. So much for the right to peaceful assembly I guess. I keep wondering how hypocritical the media is. Do you remember back during the abortive coup in Iran, how ABCNNBBCBS was bashing the Iranian police for arresting the protesters?
See ABCNNBBCBS complaining now? Amazing.