Speak Peace, Not Hate
At the time of writing, I am working on an intriguing evaluation mission, that of the Human Rights Campaign of the Council of Europe ‘Young People Combating Hate Speech Online’. Words are very powerful, they have –just as deeds– a clear effect on the world. But where deeds and acts occur in a certain determined place , online words have a much further reach. Words of hate on the Internet can be considered as a global problem. Hate–words are audible / readable symptom of discrimination. And at the same time they feed discrimination. More and more hate words are found on the Internet; there is an increasing number of sites, online games, videos, music which promotes hatred against certain groups of people or even inciting hate–oriented behaviors. Hate–words can be seen as an aggressive act against certain characteristics that the speaker / writer does not like, such as race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, or appearance.
How often do I not encounter in my coaching practice clients, who still carry the scars of words that once have hit them as knives. And sometimes these wounds are still open. Healing from within, and learning to handle one’s vulnerability is in those cases quite a process.
But something else is needed.
In a three–day seminar on ‘Cross–cultural communication, dealing with Diversity’ at Webster University we were with a culturally diverse group working to discover our own prejudices. Our own cultural allergies. Apparently we all have judgments based on biases. The non–acceptance of issues in which others are different from me or my opinions normally shows only in small things. But we know the snowball effect: a little discriminatory word just turns into words and actions that restrict the freedom of the other.
The young activists I talk with during this evaluation are clear: no–tolerance against cyber hate and electronic harassment. They inspire me to be sharp and alert, in the words I speak myself. And for counter–acting words who are full of hatred.
How?
By giving enough positive counterbalance, by denouncing public hatred, by not wanting to get used to hate–words as ‘normal’; in short, to be an ambassador of ‘Speak Peace, Not Hate’.
What would the world look like if we all did do this? Take up contact to talk through what this could mean for your company.
A peace–filled 2015 to you all!