How do you deal when people/newspapers purposefully dehumanize a certain group of people, spread lies about them, falsehoods, misleading statements, etc to the point that violence starts being perpetuated against these groups i.e. stochastic terrorism.
They attacked trans people, LGBT people, and their latest target seems to be Haitians with absurd stories of them eating pets.
I recently crossed this NYPost article discussing a car accident done by a Haitian immigrant: https://nypost.com/2024/09/13/us-news/haitian-driver-makes-illegal-turn-in-springfield-oh-smashes-into-moms-truck-with-autistic-daughter-in-back/
There are thousands of car accidents a day, the vast majority go unreported. Let’s not pretend this was reported by the NYPost for any reason than to stir further hatred and outrage (and, cynically, generate clicks and revenues).
I can’t help but feel that something needs to be done about this? I realise that it’s a very gray area – no lies have been told after all (I assume) – but I can’t imagine it is healthy for a society that allow people/media dehumanize some of its members and perpetuate stochastic terrorism. What do you think? How best to deal with this?
Posted by LePetitToast
2 Comments
Free speech means dealing with speech you don’t like. I certainly think society would be a worse place if the government had the power to prevent the New York Post from reporting on traffic accidents.
Unless they’re outright calling for violence against any group (or obviously implying violence should be done) then you can’t really do much. As fucked as it is, people have the right to attack others verbally. That’s free speech. So while I absolutely will defend trans rights & immigrant rights, I also know that in a free society, someone is allowed to demonize those groups as long as they don’t call for violence. That’s the cost of living in a free society. And we should be thankful for having a society that’s so pro-free speech.