susceptive to believing the similarly visible hateful content. Online campaigns are most effective when they fill us with the indignation to act against inequality and prejudice. Chapter three showed education to be a key theme in both focus groups; many participants believed that the best way to effectively counter and prevent hate speech is through educating people. Education is needed to cultivate morals that reduce the attraction of hateful behaviour later in life. Arguably the greatest weapon that hate groups have is misinformation; the viral nature of social media and misinformation has resulted in distorted perceptions among the west about Islam; the lack of knowledge about the religion makes this easier. In an interview conducted by Mark Juergensmeyer, Wirathu explained that one of the reasons he did not trust Muslims is because he believes they are ‘secretive’, since their mosques were not open to everyone. Juergensmeyer then noted a conversation with a local Muslim leader who said that the mosques were closed solely to prevent people from coming inside with their shoes on and desecrating the worship space.153 Critics have pointed to Wirathu’s lack of education to explain his intolerance for Muslims; we often fear what we do not understand.154 Both knowledge of the Muslim religion and their community, and dialogue between Wirathu (or someone with similar views) and members of their community could prevent such beliefs and misinformation, thus aid in preventing the spread of negative perceptions. Peacebuilding in Myanmar should aim to bring about awareness and acceptance of the religious or ethnic Other and replacing the ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality in society, growing from the rise in hate speech. It is often the case that fear of the Other stems from unfamiliarity and ignorance, and that attitudes can be changed through friendship and being taught more about that mysterious Other, whom you may have heard about only through negative news headlines. Two interviewees both told me similar stories of how, as Muslims, their friendships with Buddhist classmate had 153 http://religiondispatches.org/chatting-with-myanmars-buddhist-terrorist/ Hodal, K., (2013) ‘Buddhist monk uses racism and rumours to spread hatred in Burma’, The Guardian, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/18/buddhist-monk-spreadshatred-burma [November 2015]. 154 - 65 -