When I found out about the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) I joined up. As someone in a mixed race marriage, I have experienced bigotry addressed to me and to my family. I understand what it feels like. I am also a person who has experienced similar hatred as a cyclist, simply because of my chosen mode of transportation. So when OHPI came along I thought, brilliant an organisation that can assist in the removal of hate speech against cyclists, a marginalised group of people. Not exactly the same as other marginalised groups I agree but a marginalised group nonetheless. On seeing a post on Facebook on 1 January 2015, I posted a comment hoping that they would be assisting in hate speech against cyclists. They banned me and if I understand it correctly are investigating SCA for hate speech, how bizarre. So I sent the following message to OHPI, I obviously misunderstood that hate speech is limited to only race, religion or the colour of your skin. Not sure about their policy on cyber bullying now, as I wonder what strings they attach to that as well. It seems OHPI is a mono dimensional organisation that only wishes to participate in easy solutions. The very same people that participate in hate speech against persons of a particular race, religion or skin colour are typically also the same people who target other groups that they can marginalise. I would suggest that OHPI really do not understand what marginalisation really is and in fact their approach to bigotry is in fact one of bigotry itself. Maybe they need to investigate themselves and seek to have themselves taken down? This is the message I sent them via their contact us page on the website, I do not expect a reply: It has come to my attention that you have banned me from your Facebook page because of a single comment regarding hate speech and cycling. Bigotry in society in not limited to just race, religion or the colour of your skin. As a person who has experienced bigotry in my life because of race, religion and the colour of a persons skin (mixed race marriage of 25 years), I think I am in a very strong position to judge what is or is not bigotry and where it exists. Marginlisation is how/why bigotry begins. If you want a good summation of the parallels you can find it here: bicyclinglife/EffectiveAdvocacy/Marginalization.htm At the end of the day a cyclist can choose to shed their skin and not be identified as a cyclist, so they do have a slight edge, but that doesnt mean they they do not suffer hate speech. In your own way by ignoring this problem and failing to show an interest you are actually showing a bigoted approach by denying the existence of the very thing you profess to be trying to eliminate. If all you are trying to do is kick the easy goals, that is fine, just say so, well all move along. But if you really are trying to eliminate hate speech against marginalised groups, then do it for all not just a selective few groups. Sean Harrison
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 00:16:05 +0000