Most people will agree that Hate speech is wrong in it itself. Everybody should report against Hate speech and stop it from further spreading in society. It is determinant to the future growth of society and the country. That’s what everybody thinks when they hear about Hate speech. All try to advocate against Hate speech. But in India, there isn’t any law regarding Hate speech. Then the question becomes, ‘What is Hate Speech?’

What is Hate Speech?

In the 267th Report of the Law Commission of India, hate speech is stated as "an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like.

But, According to Article 19(1)(a): All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression. This implies that all citizens have the right to express their views and opinions freely. This includes not only words of mouth, but also a speech by way of writings, pictures, movies, banners, etc.

So, if expressing our views can cause incitement to hatred against any people or group of people, then what should we speak, what are the dos and don’ts of right speech. What is the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the way of speech?

That means there is no legal definition of Hate speech. One of my favorite philosophical thought- “Perfection is Perception”. Every standard we set for any field of a subject is based on perception. There is no Good or Bad speech. What we believe is right could be wrong for another.

How to find Hate speech?

Let’s take a simple test. There are some words written down here, see and think about how you and I would react to it.

“White, Black, Male, Female, LGBT, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, India, Pakistan, BJP, Congress, General class, SE/SC/OBC class. etc”

If you are thinking what I am thinking, then you are right. Welcome to Team Judgemental. We think we know what we know, but also think we know what we don’t know. People tend to be Judgemental, its natural mechanism of human nature. It's all a matter of perspective and environment whether our opinion is right or wrong.

We react to words like these the most because of the sensitive nature of them. Many readers attract themselves to Hate speech unconsciously because they feel something is right within it. Hate Speech speakers target the specific audience with a mix of Partial truth and taking advantage of half-knowledge to fulfil their agenda. Once we start believing them, they over empower our thought process and become their followers to spread their further teaching and that’s how you become a social influencer through Hate speech.

So, now we know there is no location to Hate speech, it’s all mind games playing with human nature and its emotions. Let’s see what we can solve.

How to Solve Hate Speech?

Self-awareness is the most important factor if we want to fight Hate speech. While we think we are smart, let's face the truth, we are not. Remember our teacher used to say double-check your answer sheet before submission but we would get so overconfident that we don’t bother to recheck it. There are some points to remember when we see any Hate speech (acc. to you) are-

• Check whether the source of information is reliable or not.
• Research the info. at different sources also.
• The credibility of source media.
• Does the content make any sense to the topic?
• Is it harmful to your mind of interest and society?
• Don’t jump to the conclusion about whether the source is right.
• Think if you know the correct information about the topic and currently update with the topic.
• Try to think from all perspectives of the given subject in the content.
• Take a deep breath and take the time to make an opinion.
• Don’t be biased to one party only.
• Report the officials or media platform if you think that it harms the interest of yourself and send an explanation regarding it.

If you don’t have enough brain, borrow from someone else. Use google if you have to, but don’t be patient of “I know it all”. Read about self-awareness on the internet and try to implement it. Fewer knowledge leads to Half knowledge; half knowledge leads to wrong Facts. Wrong facts conclude to the wrong truth and happily live with it.

Conclusion

In my opinion, there is no Hate speech. There is only a cycle of Victim, Culprit, and next generation culprit (previous victim). If there is a definition of Hate speech it would be, “Killing the thought process of the individual(victim) by the influencer(culprit) where he/she won't try to think another perspective answer and start advocating their judgemental view by start clicking (next-gen. culprit) on the share button to further spread it to look for a new victim.”

So be my dear friend, don’t become the advocate of Hate speech. Life is too long to become a fool from Hate speech. There is a large proportion of species in humans called ‘Mujhe sab Pata hai’. The consequence of Hate speech could lead to less minded judgemental opinion makers. Who knows if he is sitting right next to you?


I am currently pursuing B. Tech CSE AI & DS from SRM University. I am aspiring for more growth in XR (Extended Reality) and UI/UX design. For my hobbies, I like to read, sketch and a bit of music. I'm quite happy with my experience with YOLO. As a university student, it was my first time joining for NGO regarding community service. It's been around two months, and I have learned a lot from them regarding team working and planning, management, organization, etc. Currently, it's organizing a campaign for Digital Parenting with its follow success after NoHateNovember, Online October, and Safety September. It was worth joining such an NGO that realizes the importance of online safety.