people like them to go back where they came from.65 Is a well ordered society - which
he defines as a place committed to upholding the fundamentals of people’s reputation
as ordinary citizens - one where people are confronted with visual hatred like the
Muslim father is? The harm in hate speech, Waldron argues, is the damage to dignity,
and it is this damage that prevents an equal and fair society. As noted, aggressive
hostility against Muslims cannot only be found in Myanmar, but all over the internet;
this significantly hinders our chance to become a society closer to the one imagined by
Waldron.
Following Waldron’s thought, one of our biggest concerns would be the damage to
the dignity of the minority groups who are subject to seeing this hate speech online
and on the streets. To clarify his use of the word dignity, Waldron defines it as a status
term; it indicates the importance of paying attention to the way in which a person’s
status as a member of society in good standing is affirmed and upheld.66 The danger of
hate speech is not the offence that it may cause, and our concern for the dignity of an
individual does not mean we are simply trying to prevent this offence or prevent their
embarrassment. Our concern looks at the way things are for the individual in the
interactions of social life, and aims to understand the connection between social
status and living life as an equal member of the community. Members of the Muslim
community in Rotherham (UK) told the BBC that their lives and businesses have been
disrupted by the racism that has emerged over the last couple of years, which they
believe is a direct result of campaigns by the EDL, BNP and Britain First.67 For these
people, their right to dignity - to live their lives as citizens of the UK - is being
undermined by the publication of hate speech. It is a process that Vollhardt would
define as ‘dehumanization’, and it denies the group of a sense of civility, moral
sensibility and individuality.68 As Waldon and Vollhadt have each implied,
65
Waldron, J., (2012) The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, pp.1-2.
66
Waldon, (2012) p.142.
67
(2015) ‘Britain First: The "most dangerous far-right party"?’, BBC News, available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6LZt8BWqbE [November 2015].
68
Vollhardt, J., Coutin, M., Staub, E., Weiss, G. and Deflander, J. (2006). Deconstructing Hate Speech
in the DRC: A Psychological Media Sensitization Campaign. Journal of Hate Studies, 5:1, 15-35, p.26.
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