Confronting Hate Speech

Author Lee Seok-tae, a former Constitutional Court justice, draws parallels between historical atrocities and contemporary hate speech, emphasizing its insidious presence in everyday life. He notes that the recent "Baejae High School incident," involving controversial support for 5.18 Gwangju Uprising denigration, has brought the issue of hate speech to the forefront in South Korea.

Lee highlights a survey by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, which revealed that a significant majority of teachers (89.3%) and adolescents have experienced hate speech or historical distortion in school settings. The most frequently encountered expression involved mocking the deaths or tragedies of political and historical figures, with many reporting repeated exposure.

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Extinction and massacres are linked to the problem of hate. Hate is very close, it is in the air we breathe.

In response, adolescents identified "learning properly about hate speech and historical distortion in school" as the most needed measure. The National Human Rights Commission has also conducted investigations, finding that online hate speech is perceived as more severe than offline instances, and expressing concerns about increasing social conflict and the shrinking space for freedom of expression for minorities.

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The problem of hate is strongly emerging not only in Korean society but also worldwide, and how we can overcome it seems to be an important task for us. If we have a consensus that hate is not natural but problematic, isn't there hope in that?

The article references William Hazlitt's 19th-century essay "On the Pleasure of Hating" to satirize the enduring nature of malice. It explains that hate speech, particularly when targeting groups, can constitute harassment, infringe on human rights, or lead to defamation and insult. Such expressions weaken the legitimacy of democratic states and undermine national unity by fostering discrimination and exclusion.

Currently, South Korea lacks direct criminal penalties for hate speech, except when it falls under defamation or insult laws. The National Human Rights Commission can recommend corrective actions for discriminatory acts, and the "Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection" allows for the restriction of online illegal information containing hate speech. The article also touches upon international efforts and legal frameworks in countries like the US, UK, Canada, and Germany to combat hate speech, while noting the Constitutional Court's affirmation of student rights ordinances prohibiting discriminatory and hateful expressions.

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There can be no being bitten by hatred, nor anything preserved like concentrated malice. We are tired of everything, but not of mocking others.