However, it can be very different when the counter speakers say karma will punish those who mock wars and conflicts, as the fundamental condition they are referring to as bad is not a type of person but a class of event. 4.6 – Pity vs. Compassion by counter-speakers Observations Another closely related form of speech that is based upon the concept of sympathy is directing pity toward a group targeted by hate speech. This occurred in counter messages and as standalone comments. Again the speakers may have thought that they are genuinely siding with the targeted group, but pitying (သန ်းပါတယ်) can carry the implication of weakness and inferiority. This is seen in everyday expressions like ‘be kind/pity the other person who is weaker than you’ (ကိုယထ ့်် က် အ ်းငယ်တသ ွဲ့် ူ၊ ကိုယထ ့်် က်နမ့််ကျတွဲသ ့် ူ အစပေါ် သန ်းပါ၊ ကကင်န ပါ). This in turn can confirm a sense that the speaker is normal and the subject of the speech is not. During interviews both LGBTQ and ethnic people were particularly sensitive about this sense of pity linked to an assumption of inferiority. For example, a Rakhine participant said he is sensitive about the word တိုင်း် ရင််းသ ်း (ethnic) because it implies something below (to Bamar/Myanmar) or “impaired”, and thus politically he prefers (ရခိုင)် လူမျ ်း as Bamar/Myanmar likes to call themselves လူမျ ်း. Similarly, a woman interviewee said she always feels angry when the words of acceptance from her friends simultaneously imply that her status as LGBTQ means she is disabled or weak23. Interpretations There is a clear distinction between compassion (စ န န ်းလည် or စမတတ ကရိုဏ ) and pity (သန ်း(စ န )); compassion is more based on understanding someone’s situation without judgment and with recognition of dignity. Compassion is more aligned with inclusion and compatible with the notions of human rights, while pitying can take many forms of pre-judged beliefs of inferiority, such as implying that the other identity is bad, or that it is the result of bad karma, even though the speaker may be thinking that they are wishing well. In a worse sense, some speakers may downright dismiss the life or the situation as undesirable by writing a comment calling for pity24. Emphasis on pity can reinforce negative views of the targeted group. Emphasis on pity can prevent focus on addressing fundamental social and systematic issues, and rather bring unnecessary attention on identity in dismissal sense. For example, in posts related to the highprofile suicide of a gay librarian, comments expressing pity defined the issue as sad because his 23 24 See Annex 13 for examples See Annex 13 for examples 20