wfn.org | Crossing the line from criticism to hate

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Oct. 2, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{446}

NOTE: This story is the second of a two-part report. (Editors: The report
includes another story, a sidebar and an information box, UMNS #445, #447
and #448.)

A UMNS Feature
By Linda Bloom*

When does a Web site cross the line from criticism of a group or individual
to a display of hate?

Do images of someone burning in hell, being flushed down a toilet or being
equated with an animal breach the boundary?

The Rev. Nancy Carter, a United Methodist computer consultant, said she
struggles with the idea of what it means to go over the line. But she does
believe that equating people with animals, making them less than human, is
offensive. 

"When you dehumanize them ... that's hate," she said.

While such imagery may not meet a legal definition of hate, it certainly is
not appropriate for any person or group claiming to be religious, she added.

The Web site of the Rev. Fred Phelps - whose virulent attacks on homosexuals
were evident in his pickets at the United Methodist General Conference last
May in Cleveland - refers to homosexuals as dogs, sows and much worse. Among
the denominations he considers "fag churches in general" are the United
Methodist, Episcopal, Missouri Synod Lutheran, Evangelical Lutheran, Greek
Orthodox, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches, as well as the Jewish
Reform and Conservative movements. Phelps leads a Baptist church in Topeka,
Kan.

Like Phelps, some groups make their messages very clear from the start. The
cover page for one Klan group, America's Invisible Empire, which describes
itself as "a racially aware Christian community," issues a warning as the
music to "Onward Christian Soldiers" plays in the background. "If you do not
believe that white Christian people should be in control of the governments
of our land, then this is no place for you," the warning states.

Carter, who has been tracking hate sites off and on since 1995, noted that
other groups have made the effort to soft-pedal their language in order to
promote a message of hate to a mainstream audience. 

"They repackage their message in a way that sounds acceptable," she said.
"But the bottom line is still the same."

And it's frighteningly easy to get to, according to Mark Weitzman, director
of the Task Force Against Hate for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "All you
need to do, if you're a kid or an adult, is go to a search engine, type in
the word 'Nazi' or 'skinhead' and you're there."

Most people don't realize that such sites are so accessible, he added, and
that they are used for recruitment and propaganda purposes. Nor do they
realize that more traditional methods of dealing with hateful language or
acts don't work the same in cyberspace.

"Practically and legally, combating online extremism is enormously
difficult," the Anti-Defamation League notes in the introduction to its
"Poisoning the Web" pages on its Internet site. "The First Amendment's
protection of free speech shields most extremist propaganda, and Internet
service providers, the private companies that host most extremist sites, may
freely choose whether to house these sites or not."

Weitzman suggested that anyone using the Internet needs to go back to some
basic skills of reading, evaluating and thinking and certainly not accepting
everything they read "as gospel." Children must be guided to do such
critical thinking as well. 

"This wonderful tool and device for communication and education needs a lot
of work to go along with it," he said.

He also suggested holding companies involved in e-commerce to standards of
responsibility. He believes such companies will listen if their bottom line
is affected.

At the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, the task force on
Ministries in the Midst of Hate and Violence appreciates the need for
vigilance as computer technology continues to expand, according to
consultant Sandra Peters.

The challenge, she said, "is to understand how to more effectively
understand and provide information regarding how technology can be used to
promote the message that all persons are God's children in his image."

# # #

*Bloom is news director of United Methodist News Service's New York office.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org