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Hejt is a person's action on the Internet full of hatred, contempt, and anger. A hate can be directed at both a specific person and representatives of a given nation, gender, people with a different worldview than the one represented by the hatter, followers of a given religion or political group, and even friends of the hating person - anyone can become the target of hate. What are the causes of hatred and how to deal with it if we become its victims?
Contents:
- Reasons for hating
- Consequences of hating
- How to fight hate?
- Criminal liability for hate
Hejt("hate") from English means "hate", and this word describes its spreading on the Internet. Hejt can manifest itself not only through words, but also graphics (memes, gif.webps) or movies - in the latter two cases, unfortunately, it is easier to remember. It is worth adding, however, that the content added by haters has no substantive value, it is only content directed against a given person or group of people. Although, as the authors of the report "Hate speech, contempt speech" point out1 , it would be more appropriate to talk about "contempt" instead of "hate", because haters' actions are built on this emotion. Contempt rules out empathic reactions and tends to objectify the other person.
The term "hate" appeared in common use at the beginning of the 21st century.
Polish haters are a man (men constitute 53% of haters) aged 16 to 24 (as many as 73% of haters), who has general secondary education (35%). Every fifth has a higher education. He publishes negative posts several times a week. Such a hater profile was created by the SW Research Market and Opinion Research Agency, based on interviews with a group of over 6.5 thousand people. Internet users.
How often do we hate on the internet? Contrary to appearances, it turns out that the haters are not in the majority. Although they constitute 25% of all users on some websites, this is mainly the case in large and publicly available forums devoted to politics, social trauma, and worldview issues. However, we will not find a hat almost at all on specialist portals devoted, for example, to a specific hobby or issue.
Likehowever, according to data presented by the SWPS University, every fourth person using the Internet fell victim to a hatter, and 11% of Internet users admit that they sometimes hate "on the Internet"2 . It is worth remembering that hate content is then shared by many other people, and each negative message, reaction affects us more strongly than positive elements.
As he proves in his study "Bad is stronger than good"3psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, we perceive every negative experience 5 times more strongly than positive, e.g. we will experience the loss of PLN 100 much stronger than winning the same amount. No wonder that hate affects us so much.
Reasons for hating
Why do we hate on the Internet? There can be many reasons:
1. Hejtowanie … brings relief
Swiss scientists examined the brains of people deceived in the economic game using magnetic resonance imaging. These people were informed about the possibility of punishing the impostor, and this news was reacted by … the caudate nucleus, i.e. part of the so-called the reward system located in the brain. The prospect of smoking the culprit evoked strength, euphoria, relief and a sense of justice among the participants. Our mind reacts in the same way when we hate on the Internet - with the serious difference that most often the person being hated did not do us any real harm, and e.g. she dared to have a different opinion on a topic, look better, have more money.
2. Everyone is capable of doing evil
A hatter doesn't necessarily have to be a bad and empathetic person. It is not uncommon for people who would otherwise be called good act very differently when they become participants in a certain situation. The best confirmation of this thesis is the experiment of the famous psychologist Philip Zimbardo. 24 people taking part in it, carefully selected from a group of volunteers, with high mental resistance - were divided into two groups: prisoners and guards, each person was to play a role. The participants of the experiment were placed in a university basement that was designed to resemble a prison. The "prisoners" rebelled on the second day of the experiment, to which the guards reacted by directing carbon dioxide from the fire extinguisher on them, undressing them and carrying their beds out of their cells, and dividing the "convicts" into more and less privileged. The experiment had to be completed on the sixth day. The specific situation meant that "ordinary" people turned into people willing and cruelly harming others. The same happens on the Internet - when we see that others hate, e.g. by sharing a post by a hated person, we join them, despite the fact that in isolation from othersInternet users, we would not create such content ourselves or pass it on.
3. Anonymity and indirectness
Psychologist Steven Pinker proves that, while it might seem otherwise, in fact, the more modern times we are, the less inclined to hatred we are - from biblical times to today we see a steady decline in violence4 . Except that we now have the Internet - a medium that allows the spread of hateful content quickly, but at the same time anonymously and indirectly - not "in the face". It would be difficult to tell a celebrity you met that she is stupid, but it is not a problem to post such text on the Internet. "In the network" we can also be anonymous - unfortunately hate will effectively reach the victim, but the victim will not always know that we are its perpetrators. We feel unpunished.
A Polish hatter is usually a person aged up to 24, living in the countryside or in a small or medium-sized town. He hates public figures most willingly.
4. Stereotypes and prejudices
The victim of hate can be a specific person, but also groups of people, most often representatives of minorities. In Poland, hate is experienced by representatives of national and religious minorities (Jews, Muslims, Ukrainians, Roma), sexual minorities, people with a skin color other than white, as well as refugees. Stereotypes and prejudices arise most often when there is insufficient knowledge on a given topic, when a given person has never met a representative of the minority he hates and, for these reasons, uses simplified thought patterns. It is driven by fear of otherness - religious, cultural, sexual, and a sense of threat and harm caused by the presence of "strangers".
5. Jealousy
Hate can also be caused by jealousy, dissatisfaction with one's life situation, and unpleasant experiences. For this reason, public figures, celebrities are hated, but also friends who have achieved financial success, have an interesting job or a successful private life. Hate in such cases is the result of frustration, lack of fulfillment in life.
Consequences of hating
Although the mere addition of a hateful post on Facebook or an internet forum or sharing the same perpetrator may seem harmless, it has huge consequences for victims of hatred. Her self-esteem lowers, she becomes less resistant to the content she reads on the Internet, and she begins to believe that there is no point in resisting. A person subjected to hate speech often suffers from insomnia, lives under constant stress, begins to fear expressing his own opinion on the Internet.A person subjected to Internet aggression may even isolate himself from the rest of society, develop neurosis, depression, and even suicide attempts.
How to fight hate?
The simplest and most difficult answer is: avoid reading negative opinions, and especially replying to them. It is not without reason that the slogan "do not feed the troll" makes his career - the response to aggression incites even more aggressors. However, it is a difficult task for a hated and constantly tense person - it is not easy to ignore negative comments about yourself.
Another option is to report a full hate to the post to the administrator of a given page, who can not only delete a specific comment, but also block the account of a given person. Third party users can also report hate.
Prevention is also important - there are many social campaigns and workshops on violence on the Internet, aimed primarily at young people. One of such projects are Cybernauts, implemented by the Modern Poland Foundation.
Criminal liability for hate
Although none of the provisions speaks specifically about hate, there are legal consequences for behaviors that fall within its definition. For defamation and insult on the Internet, you can receive a fine or hear a sentence of restriction or imprisonment for up to one year. Incitement to hatred and discrimination is also punishable by a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment, but up to the age of 2. A victim of hate may also, on his own initiative, bring an action for infringement of his personal rights by a hater.
Worth knowingPositive side of hate?
According to some scientists, the expression of hatred on the Internet by haters may prevent its escalation in the "real world". Someone who vent their aggression by creating an online post may not want to repeat the behavior in reality anymore. A person who spends a lot of time on the Internet necessarily creates fewer problems in the real world because they only function to a limited extent. These theses, however, in no way diminish the power of hate and do not improve the well-being of people who experience it.
Sources:
1. Report prepared by the Center for Research on Prejudice in cooperation with the Stefan Batory and concerning the phenomenon of verbal violence against representatives of minority groups is available at: https://www.rpo.gov.pl/sites/default/files/Raport%20Mowa%20Nienawi%C5%9Bci%2C%20Mowa%20Pogardy% 2C% 2027.02.2017.pdf
2. Access to information on the website: http://www.centrumprasowe.swps.pl/3840-nowe-imie-nienawisci-hejt
3. Access toresearch on the website: http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71516.pdf
4. The psychologist's speech at the TED conference is available at this link: https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence?language=pl
About the author
Anna SierantEditor in charge of the Psychology and Beauty sections, as well as the main page of Poradnikzdrowie.pl. As a journalist, she cooperated, among others. with "Wysokie Obcasy", the websites: dwutygodnik.com and entertheroom.com, the quarterly "G'RLS Room". She also co-founded the online magazine "PudOWY Róż". He runs a blog jakdzżyna.wordpress.com.
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