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If you talk about the polarized society and the public discourse, you always end up with the topic of "online hatred" - but what is meant by that is often strangely unclear.
Everyone knows - or seems to know - that "online hatred" is bad and getting worse, damaging debates and dividing society.
But when it comes to the details, those who are not affected often have little knowledge.
I have often seen this at readings or other events, and on such occasions I am almost always asked how I, as an author, deal with the fact that I am affected by "online hatred".
The questions then usually go in the direction of: "How is it for you, what does it do to you?" And "What can be done about it?"
"Will she tell us about a nervous breakdown?"
Two points on this: First, I do not consider what "it" does to "me" to be the central point of the debate.
The interest in it is understandable, but sometimes I have the feeling that this question is carried by a certain sensationalism: Well, can she take it?
Will she tell us about breakdowns and sleepless nights?
She won't.
She'll be fine.
And secondly: in order to be able to know what you can do against "hate on the Internet", you first have to clarify what it is about.
Because neither “hate” nor “online” are self-explanatory.
When I said at a reading that I just ignore most of the hateful comments found in my texts or tweets or in my inbox and only report someone from time to time, a listener answered, type of teacher shortly before retirement, and asked: “But isn't it important to take criticism seriously too?
Aren't you making it easy for yourself if you ignore that? "
But it's not about criticism. The listener actually didn't know what I meant: not people who have a different opinion than me. But people who send me insults or threats: texts about how they want to rape, shoot, beat, set fire to me, hang me up. That I'm a greedy Polish slut and a disgusting tick, that I'm ugly and my ovaries are rotten, that they hope I'll be raped by Arabs.
Personally, I don't care about hatred.
When you're a political writer, you either get used to it or you stop and do something else.
I got used to it.
You don't do this job to be popular;
there are more promising ways.
When you say something like that, people often think you're just trying to sound extra tough, but it's true.
As far as I know, geriatric nurses also get used to dealing with excrement.
"Hate online" does not necessarily stay "online"
What one cannot ignore, however, is when people announce that hatred will be followed up with deeds.
And that brings us to a central problem: "Hate online" does not necessarily stay "online".
This becomes clear at the latest when people arrange to meet on Telegram for torch-lit marches in front of houses or stream live how they "visit" someone at work and harass them.
A common piece of advice to people who experience so-called Shitstorms is: Turn off your cell phone.
Another piece of advice: just report them if they insult or threaten you.
The first problem with it: Both pieces of advice contradict each other.
If you want to report someone, you have to document everything, you need links to postings and profiles and additional screenshots.
You can't put that together if you »just turn off the cell phone«.
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And the second problem: It doesn't go away if you look away. In case of doubt, it can even be dangerous if you don't notice that people are announcing an attack or are publishing your home address. So-called doxing has long since become a central component of "hatred on the Internet": the publication of a person's private data, for example of politicians or journalists, against their will, for the purpose of intimidation. This can include the home address, but also the telephone number, email address, car and license plate number, the names of the children or other family members, or places where the person or their family members are frequently.
When you become a victim of doxing at the latest, "online hatred" is no longer just online. Because then it can happen that, to name a few examples: you get twenty pizzas delivered a day that you did not order, or that someone stands in front of the door and the doorbell rings, or that you find dead birds and dog excrement in the mailbox , Graffiti in the stairwell, a swastika on the front door and so on. This is a selection of the things that have happened to journalists or activists that I know in the past few years.
For those affected, this can mean that they move, change jobs, install a camera at the entrance or warn the family that strange and unpleasant things could happen.
Or all the small, but very annoying and often expensive things that make everyday life difficult: change the name on the doorbell, don't order anything home to protect your own address, redirect all mail to a post office box, strengthen the front door.
Train the police and the judiciary so that they take those affected seriously
Anyone who has not yet experienced this will probably think: Yes, but you go to the police for something like that! Yes, of couse. Often you then go to the police. Alone: She doesn't always do something. Partly because there is nothing she can do and partly because the problem is not recognized. In addition, victims of right-wing or racial violence do not necessarily feel good about going to the police if they regularly follow the news and know how often right-wing extremist chats from police officers are exposed.
In a Forsa survey in spring 2021, 78 percent of those questioned said that criminal prosecution was an effective measure against hate speech. Only: Sometimes the actual prosecution does not come about, partly because the situation is not perceived by the investigators as bad enough, partly because proceedings are quickly discontinued.
Therefore, a necessary step in the fight against hatred on the Internet would be to train the responsible police and judiciary staff in all federal states in such a way that those affected are taken seriously.
Until you are in the situation yourself, you will not believe how poorly protected those affected are.
When I reported a specific threat in which my allegedly imminent brutal rape was very explicitly and brutally described to me, the public prosecutor did investigate.
However, the criminal offense under which the whole thing was classified was not a threat, but "distribution of pornographic material."
»Avoid dark areas«
Another example: a security consultation at the LKA, because of an acute threat situation. The tips I got: “Don't post your location on the internet. If you have to go out alone in the evening, take a flashlight with you. Avoid dark areas where no one else is. And if something strikes you as strange, call 110. ”I know dozens of such stories from other journalists. Some are advised not to go out alone anymore. Or to look under her car from time to time to see if the explosive device announced by some haters can be found.
Training the police and the judiciary is a requirement that is easy to make. But of course individuals can also do something. Even among journalists, it is not a matter of course to show solidarity with those affected. I've had conversations with colleagues who responded to the fact that I had received death threats again with sentences like: "Well, I'm not that important, well, nobody threats me." that's the other side of the coin when you're writing bestsellers, isn't it? «
As if threats were the price of fame and honor.
Everything about it is wrong.
Because you can of course write bestsellers without being threatened.
Sometimes I think that in a world where attention and the largest possible number of followers seem so absolutely desirable to some people, we will never find a sensible way to deal with hate on the Internet.
Hate on the Internet is often discussed in the media, but often with phrases like "it can affect anyone".
This is true theoretically, but not really in fact: online hatred is not a force of nature that now and then breaks in indiscriminately over individuals.
Violence in the digital space affects women who express themselves politically more often than people who share baking recipes on chefkoch.de.
A bit of mental hygiene in between
We also know from other surveys: Younger people are more often affected than older people, and anyone who is affected by sexism, racism, queer or trans-hostility in everyday life is also affected on the Internet.
»Girls and women receive much more violent content than men, such as threats of rape.
Sexualized violence is much more massive among women online, ”says Anna-Lena von Hodenberg from“ HateAid ”, a counseling center for victims of digital violence, in an interview.
"A woman who goes public today and expresses herself politically is no longer safe."
more on the subject
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Hate on the net: Interior Minister Faeser threatens Telegram with sharper steps
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This is new. «An interview by Cornelia Schmergal and Melanie Amann
At the moment there are too few contact points for those affected, which is one of the reasons why people who are insulted and threatened often help each other.
I could no longer count on both hands how often colleagues have turned to me when they experienced hostility.
Sometimes I can help then.
But that is actually a task that employers, the police and the judiciary should take on.
And it would be a task of general education through media.
Anyone who is afraid of being attacked at home may frantically delete all photos posted publicly from their own balcony, the snow photo from the bedroom window, the photos of the children or the local pub.
Anyone who has been insulted and threatened for a long time no longer posts something like this.
Anyone who has been insulted and threatened for a long time knows: the main task is to protect yourself, to help others and - and that is perhaps the most difficult part - not to become paranoid.
A bitter ending, I know.
But at the end of the day I would like to say something about what "it" does to me: Sometimes I answer people who insult me abundantly and insult them in return.
A bit of mental hygiene in between.
Should you report me from me - nothing usually happens anyway.
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