Autor: Alexandra Marian

From Religion to Extremism

One of the most encountered criteria for discrimination is religion. Nowadays, religion is a sensitive topic, even though due to the type of lifestyle many people chose to be less and less involved in religious activities.

Given the world contemporary world context and the conflicts that occurred in multiple states, more and more people turned to religion trying to cope with the situation. In war zones, some of the people who turned to religion for comfort started using it as a weapon against what they believe to be the enemy. Thus, military conflict became an ideological dispute where many lives were caught in the crossfire. The change of focus towards an ideological approach led to an increase in cases of religious discrimination.

This increase in religious discrimination cases was particularly visible during the immigrants’ crisis during the war in Syria. Immigrants were crossing the Mediterranean sea to flee to Europe. During that time, in Europe, there were many bombings of airports all around the continent which were reportedly performed by terrorist groups in the name of religion. This lead to panic on the European continent and also to a major increase in religion-based discrimination cases. These acts of terror allegedly made in the name of religion had a huge impact on the way the adepts of the religion were seen.

Many times people see the ideology that hurt them instead of trying to get to know the person. Extremism in religion lead to the creation of a gap between people.

Hate Speech


(Source: pixabay.com)

In a society where privacy became a rare and valuable thing, the speech which incites to hate, discrimination and violence became more and more spread. With the growth of social media networks, hate speech transitioned from being used in the offline, to following the victims everywhere. If before having the technology to allow us fast access to information, the victims of hate speech could easily walk away, nowadays they area followed by it everywhere.

Even though it existed for a long time, the speech which incites to hate became more and more used in the 21st century due to the large coverage. This does not mean that hate speech in offline disappeared. A huge part of it was transitioned online as it became very easy for bullies to produce a more impactful message and to hide from their victims. It is easier to create a false identity and comment at other people’s actions rather than face them. This derogatory language usually targets victims based on gender, race, national origin, sex or religion.

The hate speech is posing threats to human rights. According to an article from the Council of Europe, this type of language poses great threats to democracy, sometimes escalating from a hate crime to a fully-fledged conflict. In the human kind’s history so far there are a lot of conflicts that appeared due to hate speech and also many organizations and movements who still promote this kind of language. Any type of difference between two people could be the subject of hate speech, from the way each dresses to the way each of them thinks about a certain topic.

What can we do about it?

Even though there has been an increase in cases of hate speech, we should not be afraid to report them. Under-reporting these type of cases contributed to the increase. Another thing that we can do to prevent this from happening is to teach the new generations that there are limits to free speech and that just because they have this right they should not use it to hurt others. Education is the key to change. Another way to deal with the issue is to confront the bullies. It may not always be the easiest path, but it’s a good approach to minimizing the impact. Even if you are not a direct victim, you can always help victims to face their bully. There are also groups such as eMore which encourage people to come forward and report hate speech abuses.

An act of courage


(Source: pixabay.com)

There are many authorities that took a series of measures against hate speech, including the Council of Europe. Despite the efforts of such authorities to minimize the growth of this type of speech, the authorities face a dilemma as they cannot completely eliminate hate speech without eliminating the right to freedom of speech.

Besides the authorities who fight to tackle this issue, there are also several NGOs, like the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), who try to inform the people about the dangers of this way expression. WOSM aims to educate and inspire young people to have a positive attitude about the world they live in through the motto: „Creating a better world!”

During a neo-nazi protest in Brno, the Czech Republic, Lucie Myslíková, a sixteen-year-old girl, member of the WOSM, confronted a neo-nazi promoter. She was at the demonstration to peacefully protest against the neo-nazi ideas which promoted hate speech and a discriminatory and violent approach of racial diversity and peace.

A photographer caught her on camera while she was standing up to a neo-nazi participant to the protest. The photographs went viral, along with some fragments of the conversation heard by the photographer. Despite the attitude of the neo-nazi member, the girl kept her calm and tried to explain to him that people should not be treated differently based on where they come from or on the color of their skin.

This shows us that each of us is capable of an act of courage!

Public Shaming vs. Cyberbullying


(Source: pixabay.com)

Is public shaming a type of cyberbullying?

When we think about public shaming, we think of something that happened ages ago, when offenders were put on a stage and the public got to mock them for their offense…right? The issue is a bit more complicated. What initially appeared as a form of punishment, became in time a form of harassment when the victim is followed everywhere and constantly reminded of what they did. Public shaming mainly occurs when somebody does something that society considers immoral.

Nowadays, many persons are being subjected to such treatment without the possibility to escape. In the majority of the cases, the victims are public personas or are somehow connected to them. Many times the perpetrators of the public shaming are the journalists who want to know everything about what happened without thinking about the impact of their behavior.
Furthermore, as the appearance of the internet made the phenomenon flourish, and despite the journalists’ part, we as consumers of media also play an important role due to our possibility to comment on every topic.

Through the journalists’ involvement, public shaming transitioned from an ancient way to punish „immoral crimes” to a way of cyberbullying. Through the online, the victim is constantly reminded of their behavior. This practice is invasive and it „suffocates” the victims, making the issue appear larger than it actually is. Here, the victims do not have the possibility to properly identify their bullies as it happens in most cyberbullying cases. Due to the large coverage that the journalists have, they can often create the illusion for the victim that the harassment comes from everywhere. Because of this, victims may develop trust issues and could have a difficult time in future relationships.

To tackle the effects of public shaming and cyberbullying, we as media consumers should not encourage the journalists to write about such subjects. Furthermore, we should not become the ones that through social media get to maximize the impact of public shaming. Beyond our screens, there is always another person who might get hurt!

Discriminarea rasială


(Sursa: pixabay.com)

Recent am fost martora unui caz care m-a marcat și m-a făcut să înțeleg faptul că deși trăim într-o societate modernă, acțiuniile noastre sunt guvernate de tot felul de prejudecăți. De curând am întalnit o persoană care a fost de atâtea ori discriminată pe considerente rasiale încât a ajuns să i se pară normal. Felul în care arătam este si prima impresie pe care o lăsăm celor din jur. Dar faptul că se ajunge la negarantarea anumitor drepturi doar din cauza felului în care arată o persoană este un abuz.

Modul acesta de a discrimina persoanele fără a încerca măcar să vedem cine sunt, ajunge să afecteze persoanle diferit, unii intră într-o stare de depresie, alții ajung să lupte avid împotriva acestei percepții, iar alții ajung să considere aceste aparent mici abuzuri ca și normalitate. Această persoană a ajuns în momentul în care considera că acest tip de comportament față de ea este normal, așa că nici nu mai încerca să protesteze în vreun fel.

În România discriminarea rasială este mereu prezentă. Deși este prezentă, foarte puțini dintre noi suntem într-adevăr atenți la ce se întâmplă în jurul nostru li poate nu o observăm întotdeauna. Din acest motiv, acest tip de comportament ajunge să treacă ușor, ușor în normalitate. Acest lucru afecteză întreaga societate și diminuează semnificativ șansele unei victime ale discriminării rasiale să raporteze aceste abuzuri. Ba mai mult, ajunge să obișnuiască victimele că acest tip de comportament este norma.

În ciuda acestei tendințe de normalizare a discriminării, noi ca societate ar trebui să semnalăm acest tip de abuzuri și să susținem victimele discriminării să nu perceapă acest comportament ca fiind unul normal. Felul cum arăți nu ar trebui să îți definească drepturile!

Scroll to top