Where the hate shines

"People don't go to hate sites to giggle over gossip - they go to spread hate and damage people's reputations before the largest possible audience. It's just the nature of internet anonymity." Anon.

Today's piece is about Anonymous Hate Websites (AHW). AHW's are set up by Hate Groups, or an individual or individuals who tells innocent others to join it by misleading them as to the sites true intentions. I know of at least a couple that were created locally. (One of these Whitsundays hate groups, interpreting an FBI bulletin, is already up to level four - see below).


Hate Groups
A hate group is a group or movement that advocates hate towards individuals and/or members of a race, disability, ethnicity, religion, or any other sector of society.

The term hate group is not used by these groups themselves, but rather by those who oppose them, and sometimes by sociologists or historians who study them. Many groups described this way disagree with the term as misconstruing their motives or goals. 

The two main elements present in hate groups are:

• Dehumanizing or demonizing, (eg; puppets, cartoons, etc);
  
• Conspiracy theories, (possibly not well backed up or referenced).

The ultimate aim of a hate group is commonly the delegitimization, elimination, and exclusion of groups, or the harm, deportation, or death of individuals.

The above comment from a Whitsundays based hate site is attributed to someone recovering from cancer.Some would  interpret it as 'having a go' at that persons health, and others as a death threat.

Hate Sites
Using the pervasiveness of the Internet, AHW's are looking more "professional" and may appear more entertaining than hateful. This apparent normalization of a hate site is considered by many scholars a dangerous trend.

AHW's usually assert that the targets of their attacks are harmful to society, malicious, less fit to be members of society, or are operating some hidden cabal.

According to a report published in 2003 in the FBI Law Enforcement bulletin³, a hate group, if unimpeded, passes through seven successive stages of hate:

1. Grouping
2. Self definition
3. Disparaging the target
4. Taunting the target
5. Attacking without weapons
6. Attacking with weapons
7. Destroying the target.


So let's get to the Whitsundays hate site that was found back in September - I was alerted to it by one of its 'friends'. As soon as they viewed the site, they recognized immediately that it was a hate site targeting the editor of this blog.

A few well known people have 'de-friended' from this site when they learned of its true agenda. It is my belief that some of the 'friends' on this website do not know its true intentions and were mislead into joining it, thinking it may be a bit of fun. However, according to Wikipedia:

"..the hate movement has taken on a new, modern face. The strength of the contemporary hate movement is grounded in its ability to repackage its message in ways that make it more palatable, and in its ability to exploit the points of intersection between itself and prevailing ideological canons. In short, the hate movement is attempting to move itself into the mainstream of  culture and politics."

To be fair,  I'm letting the mislead, innocent parties a chance to de-friend from the hate site (they will recognise the image above - take note of the headgear, synonymous with people going through chemotherapy) before I publish the URL address (and the Hate Site creators promoters) a little later this week.


Mentally disturbed, downright crazy?
So, are the creators (and to a lesser extent its members) of hate sites mentally disturbed, mentally impaired, downright crazy? Some are, but most are not. As far as hate crimes go, one would think individuals who commit these acts to be mentally unstable, however a study carried out by the University of California showed differently. Out of 550 hate crime criminals profiled, researchers found aggression and antisocial behavior to be prevalent, but no personality disorders. Perpetrators were described as typically “normal” with a high tendency towards destructiveness and violence.

Whether feelings of hatred are rational or irrational, the logic behind these feelings is distorted. Sigmund Freud classified all forms of behavioral expression as defense mechanisms used to protect one’s self-image. As such, hatred expressed inwardly or outwardly becomes a self-protective measure that works to maintain one’s sense of identity.

Intolerance can also be viewed as a defense mechanism against change (ie; being shunned by a peer group), acting as a form of self-protection. It is a mentally-unbalanced defense mechanism.

People who make fun of people who have, or are recovering, or have beaten cancer is a bit disturbing. I can take it personally, but what about others, especially kids?


Sources:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Daily Orange
Wikia - Psychology
University of California
American Psychological Association