Comments on: When is hate speech acceptable?

By: River

River — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:03:11 +0000

Just on this topic of hate speech and how it needs to be deconstructed and such, in another very popular series, Game of Thrones (it’s an HBO series based off of the books by George R.R. Martin) one of the main characters is a dwarf (Tyrion) and another becomes paralyzed from the waist down (Bran). One of the most thought provoking and utterly true things I’ve ever heard or read is something Tyrion says. Tyrion and his brother (an able bodied, good looking knight) were discussing Bran and how he will be a “grotesque”, and that the attractive brother would rather have a “good, clean death”. Tyrion pipes in with “Speaking for the grotesques…I beg to differ. Death is so final, while life is full of possibilities.”

By: #doctorwhofail « Raising My Boychick

#doctorwhofail « Raising My Boychick — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:33:43 +0000

[...] When is hate speech acceptable? [...]

By: the fat nutritionist

the fat nutritionist — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:43:41 +0000

I like this analysis. A lot.

By: Susannah

Susannah — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:24:08 +0000

There are times people around me say things and I cringe because it is so laden with hate. They thing is, many (I think most) people don’t realize it – whether it is them or someone else saying the hurtful words. I used to think that people who perpetually used hate speech and stereotypes were just ignorant and simply needed to be exposed to a different way of thinking. I am pretty cynical these days, but one belief that I have held onto is that people are inherently good. *Most* people won’t start out trying to hurt someone, they just don’t realize it when they say or do something that crosses the line. Herein is where the idea of “explicit opposition, deconstruction, and defeat” of the comment(s) gathers strength.
Count me in for treating life like it is more than just a garnish :)

By: Gayle

Gayle — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:32:38 +0000

Absolutely agree. In my opinion, hate speech is more than garnish, it is used as a character building-block for villains…slipping in racial insults, nazi-like overtones, gender stereotypes, as if they give the villain added power by magnifying his or her evilness. Coupling increased power with hate speech sends entirely the wrong message, even if said villain is defeated in the end.

I think hate speech is also a convenient characterization used in stereotyping. i.e. characterizing “red necks” (a term that I despise) as racial abusers, characterizing “jocks” as fat-haters… We lose the individual responsibility for our words in creating (and accepting) these stereotypes.

By: Arwyn

Arwyn — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:02:27 +0000

Actually, this was from an episode in the very newest season of new Who. Its context is this culture, now. (Well, the UK, one or two years ago.)

Attempts could be needlessly clunky, like an 80s after-school special (were those exclusively an American phenomenon?), but it could further the episode in a meaningful way. Or they could just leave out the hate speech altogether.

By: Kunsthure

Kunsthure — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:52:33 +0000

So how, exactly, should the Dr. Who comment have been “explicitly opposed, deconstructed, and defeated within the story/narrative”? Attempts could be needlessly clunky or interpreted as today’s whitewashing political correctness, both of which would only irritate the average viewer who doesn’t care about the “hate speech.” If that’s the audience that takes the speech as the garnish, then that’s the audience you’d be trying to reach by showing how the speech is derogatory. However, it’d only piss them off and the point would be lost on them completely.

Depending on when that episode was written, its context is from another era and another culture and it’s an historical marker of a different time. I can absolutely picture Sean Connery saying something like that in a Bond film. We can’t go back and re-write the episode, add on deconstructing elements or some kind of disclaimer. How should that be dealt with?

My questions are rhetorical, no need to answer.