Hating on Hatred

            I was introduced to UNL Haters about a week ago when one of my friend’s mindless posts wound up plastered on the page. Her comment was offensive—no doubt, but perhaps the greater travesty was that the statement, like countless others on the blog, was made under the pretense of humor. Members of the majority group might feel so comfortable with their mainstream culture that jabs at cultural difference do not register to the author as racist or immediately offensive. And communication of social positions is only exacerbated by the presence of online social media sites (Martin & Nakayama 305).

            My response to the UNL Haters blog is mixed. Derogatory comments directed at different cultural groups are as unacceptable online as it is in person, so I commend the blog for calling out specific instances of hate speech. Too often, it seems, people are comfortable writing hateful words online simply because they feel they’re cloaked by the Internet or anonymity. In person, however, it’s another story. Speaking out against someone making racist, homophobic or sexist statements can be difficult—especially if the speaker is someone we know well. This site pulls out examples of individuals asserting an unfair social position in a nonaggressive way.

            At the same time, however, I fear the site may give outsiders a negative impression of UNL that simply does not represent the majority of our population. I imagine a foreign exchange student from an Asian country (targeted frequently) might second-guess their decision to enroll at UNL after taking a peek at this site. The purpose of the blog is to single out inappropriate comments, but the views expressed by these individuals are not consensual, but how would someone who’s never been to Lincoln know that? My hope is that this site will instill a sense of awareness in social media publishers so that they will be mindful of their posts, but that eventually the site will no longer be needed. My friend, for example, deleted the original post from her own Facebook account after learning that the ‘Haters’ site had tagged her words.

            I know another student used a clip from this TV show in an earlier CAPS blog, but I thought this particular clip so clearly illustrates the concept I outlined above. We’d like to believe that in 2012 racism is a far less prevalent phenomena than it was in the past, but video footage such as this and the existence of blogs like UNL Haters remind us that it’s still necessary to take a stand against hatred. This video shows how difficult speaking out against racism can really be.

            What can we do as a campus to curb hatred toward different cultural groups at UNL? I would argue that individuals feel comfortable making jabs at situations that are out of their norm. A girl sees a large group of Asians on her way to class and considers this situation unique enough that it would warrant a comment—not necessarily thinking about the racist implications. The way we solve this problem, then, is by making cultural and racial diversity the norm. We should encourage students to interact with other students from vastly different cultural groups and cultural identifications. The more we know about people who are different than us, the less we are surprised when these differences pop up in our daily lives. UNL students could also do more to promote positive messages about diversity and acceptance on campus. Let’s keep an eye on what we say and what messages our words convey about social positions.

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Image: http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/laptop-630x400.jpg

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbIUEiDBPPg