Enforcing Punishments for Hate Speech

[lesbianblue]

Many people on mana (or at least survival as that's where I play the majority of the time) use words that actively harm or insult disabled people. Examples of what I mean are using the word "autistic" as an insult, or using the word "r*tard/r*etarded." While some people seem to disagree, I firmly believe that these words should be considered hate speech, and using these words/phrases should have the same punishment as using slurs for any other oppressed group (homophobic slurs, racial slurs, etc). I am disabled and this has affected my life in many different ways, and seeing people using hateful language like this on a near daily basis on my favorite server is disheartening, to say the least. The rules posted on the forums even list "Being offensive, or saying things that attack a person or group on the basis of gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability or sexual orientation." The definition of r*tard (the noun, not the verb) on Merriam-Webster lists it as informal/offensive. However when I bring this up in chat to staff, they don't believe that it falls under mutable offenses, so I think it'd be amazing if we could simply make these things mutable, just like any other hate speech should be. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope everyone will hear me out!!

 

[Dyss]

I agree, i dont think anyone should be directly called "retarded/a retard" in public chat, thats rude, and a warn should be in order, If the player ignores being warned for using the word, by a staff member, they should most definitely be muted.

 

[Tas]

It really depends on the context. If I were to say "my best friend is autistic", it's not hate speech because she is proud of it and it is true. If I were to say "you suck at Minecraft, what are you, autistic?" That would be hate speech. So while I don't think they should be in the same category as, say, the N word, I agree that when necessary it would be appreciated to see some action taken. I agree!

 

[lesbianblue]

It really depends on the context. If I were to say "my best friend is autistic", it's not hate speech because she is proud of it and it is true. If I were to say "you suck at Minecraft, what are you, autistic?" That would be hate speech. So while I don't think they should be in the same category as, say, the N word, I agree that when necessary it would be appreciated to see some action taken. I agree!

no yeah i agree that the word autistic itself is allowed!! i say in the post "when used as an insult" for clarity, similar example is the word gay. obviously not a bad thing on its own but shouldnt be used as an insult ^.^

 

[nauruh]

i couldn’t agree more, Sam. ☺️ i think using the r word no matter the context isn’t very settling. definitely should be a more enforced rule in chat as it seems to happen frequently. love ya ❤️

 

[FoxtrotCentauri]

Toxic behaviour will always be punished, things such as discriminating for a disability etc would clearly fall under that.

There is however a line to be drawn between offensive language, and hate speech. An example of hate speech would be an individual specifically targeting a group or individual for a protected attribute, such as the ones aforementioned in this thread.

Some kid cussing someone out with the word "autistic" for example would not be classed as hate speech. So no, I do not think "hate speech" should be punished, partially due to that type of offensive language being already broadly covered by other rules and therefore redundant, and also it is very difficult to isolate cases of hate speech, vs general toxic language using those key words - such as "gay", ******", "retard" and so forth.

To get more philosophical here, who would judge whether a statement is hate speech? I won't go into it, however here's a recent example of this exact situation (hate speech online) and how it is treated within the law:

 

[lesbianblue]

Toxic behaviour will always be punished, things such as discriminating for a disability etc would clearly fall under that.

There is however a line to be drawn between offensive language, and hate speech. An example of hate speech would be an individual specifically targeting a group or individual for a protected attribute, such as the ones aforementioned in this thread.

Some kid cussing someone out with the word "autistic" for example would not be classed as hate speech. So no, I do not think "hate speech" should be punished, partially due to that type of offensive language being already broadly covered by other rules and therefore redundant, and also it is very difficult to isolate cases of hate speech, vs general toxic language using those key words - such as "gay", ******", "retard" and so forth.

To get more philosophical here, who would judge whether a statement is hate speech? I won't go into it, however here's a recent example of this exact situation (hate speech online) and how it is treated within the law:

Hi!! I agree with some parts of this response, but one part that concerns me is when you say "who would judge whether a statement is hate speech?" This is an intriguing conversation, but i think its safe to say that people of the group being targeted should at least have a say in what is considered hate speech for them. As I state in the full post, I am disabled and have a learning disorder, and I believe these words should be considered hate speech. I don't know you or whether or not you're also disabled, but I feel strongly that people in the community should get to decide what is or isn't hate speech. Thanks for such a thoughtful response!! ^.^

 

[LiterallyJack]

I understand what you are saying but there's a problem with this.

The problem with this is staff never know if the hate speech stated is joking or not. You could have a friend come on and you say "Oh, look at that autistic kid, he's so dumb" and even though it's rude, it's merely just a friendly "banter". Obviously if someone is spamming the N word over and over again, that's bad and should be punished but sometimes it's hard to know if what is said is a joke or actually meant to bring harm to someone.

Autism is a problem that a lot of people suffer with but many people will joke about it between each other as it's a way to not see the bad sides of it, and even to mock it's existence. Although I understand from the point of what you are saying, it's sometimes a hard subject for people and can cause offence.

 

[lesbianblue]

I understand what you are saying but there's a problem with this.

The problem with this is staff never know if the hate speech stated is joking or not. You could have a friend come on and you say "Oh, look at that autistic kid, he's so dumb" and even though it's rude, it's merely just a friendly "banter". Obviously if someone is spamming the N word over and over again, that's bad and should be punished but sometimes it's hard to know if what is said is a joke or actually meant to bring harm to someone.

Autism is a problem that a lot of people suffer with but many people will joke about it between each other as it's a way to not see the bad sides of it, and even to mock it's existence. Although I understand from the point of what you are saying, it's sometimes a hard subject for people and can cause offence.

I understand that people are allowed to find whatever they want funny, but I believe that this particular subject cant ever really be "just a joke." The history that disabled people have with this word is serious and you it's very hard to hear it in a "joking" manner for people in the community. Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to say here, thanks for the reply!!

 

[BushSword]

I am very new to the server and I saw people calling each other retarded and stuff. At first I thought they were friends but after I while, I could tell they were actually fighting. I agree with you. This has to stop.

 

[MrBugs]

I couldn't agree more, I have autism and I don't really appreciate people using "autistic" or "Retarded" as derogatory terms or insults to each other. I believe staff should be cracking down on people using words that directly insult peoples race, any form of disability or illness, or sexuality.

 

[MrBugs]

I understand what you are saying but there's a problem with this.

The problem with this is staff never know if the hate speech stated is joking or not. You could have a friend come on and you say "Oh, look at that autistic kid, he's so dumb" and even though it's rude, it's merely just a friendly "banter". Obviously if someone is spamming the N word over and over again, that's bad and should be punished but sometimes it's hard to know if what is said is a joke or actually meant to bring harm to someone.

Autism is a problem that a lot of people suffer with but many people will joke about it between each other as it's a way to not see the bad sides of it, and even to mock it's existence. Although I understand from the point of what you are saying, it's sometimes a hard subject for people and can cause offence.

And that's one issue is that comedy is selective, some people find racist jokes or jokes that are about illnesses or disabilities funny, but many others of people don't find them very funny. Life is all about perspective, if someone is offended --whether you meant it offensively or not-- you can't just say "no you aren't allowed to be offended because it was a joke" so whether it's a joke or not it is directly against the rules to do that and staff should be enforcing those rules more then they are.

 

[yerqqin]

I agree strongly

 

[Huskiez]

I couldn’t agree more! - I’ve noticed that type of behaviour on islands aswell but it’s more name calling, assuming ages, calling eachother offensive terms and other such things. I’ve also noticed the n word being used a lot by people and I kind of get offended by that being used as it’s an oppressive word and should not be used. I do want a ban on the n word and I do want something to be done about name calling by using offensive terms like “retarded” or “******” or soemthing

 

[LiLKayla]

This is also very much on the prisons server.

 

[locoMoose]

Here's my take on the matter- you have people all around the world that come from different backgrounds so we should be mindful of what we say. As @FoxtrotCentauri said in his post, there's a fine line between the two. In all honesty, I think the word shouldn't be directed at anybody & should fall under player disrespect. Categorizing the word as hate speech, however, is a bit extreme in my opinion.