The Normalization of Hate event was one that I had low expectations for. It was from 7-8:30 in the Watkinson Amphitheatre. To me, it really sounded like something cheesy that I personally wouldn’t want to listen to. I thought it would go something along the lines of “hatred is bad, spread love and positivity” or something similar you would say to 3rd graders. There was a little bit of that, but I was glad we were actually talking about serious and specific instances, such as hate crimes and racism rather than flowery and broad hippie language. I’m not gonna, lie, I knew the basic information already, like how hate crimes had risen in the past years and how freedom of speech was always used to justify hate speech. However, I did learn about how problematic dealing with hate is. The panel talked about how hate groups recruit and form, and how the internet had created a space where the message could be sent without censorship, as one could expect from a newspaper or news channel. I will say they took it a bit far, because they were a bunch of old people, and therefore must blame the internet for everything. They did have a point but saying that gamers would become supremacists was just old people talk. Another thing I learned was about the copycat effect, and how it became problematic as to whether or not a hate crime should be reported in the news. Personally, I think it depends on the hate crime. I really liked how the New Zealand Prime Minister handled Christchurch, but I can see why reporting an attack would be a bad idea. I don’t have a set solution to the problem, because it varies case by case, and I can see why it is so difficult to manage. However, I will say that censoring too much on the internet is bad, such as them circumventing the restrictions and being more aggressive to get their message out, but also because it would garner sympathy as there would be an argument to say that a political view was being blocked on the internet and could get it messed up even more so in politics which the internet has tried hard to be a neutral place. Furthermore, if there is too much censorship, who is not to say we could have a China situation where the most ridiculous things get banned.

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