Hate Speech: The Language That Incites Violence

Words are like powerful tools which have always been at our disposal; thus, if not chosen wisely, they might have severe repercussions on targeted groups of people. Whether it is intentional, such as the case of verbal assault and racist comments, or allegedly unintentional, such as the use of ambiguous terminology, public discrimination is prohibited by law as it undermines fundamental human rights. In this dissertation, the boundary between freedom of speech and hate speech will be delineated through the analysis of specific happenings and the main people involved. The significant rise in hate speech during the COVID-19 pandemic has provided relevant case studies, starting from the former president of the US Donald Trump’s controversial tweet, misleading people into believing that all Asians were responsible for the spreading of the virus, to local testimonies of teenagers who were taunted and made fun of by their classmates for internet-connection-related problems. The stigmatization of people belonging to different social groups, also called the “Othering Theory”, is a phenomenon that has developed more easily thanks to social media platforms, as people are given the chance to speak their minds more freely, no matter how offensive their thoughts are. As such, this study aims to show how even the slightest nuance of meaning in a word can incite hatred.