Do Active Rain members understand what constitutes "hate speech"?
Here we go again with the Active Rain Guidelines:
ActiveRain Community Guidelines
The Guidelines clearly state, "we don't permit hate speech which contains slurs or the malicious use of stereotypes intended to attack or demean a particular gender, sexual orientation (my italics and bold type here), race, religion, or nationality."
The Guidelines further state,
Do not personally attack another person.
Do not slander another person.I quote the Guidelines again: "We built ActiveRain as a place for real estate professional to network and create a sense of community/belonging. This is your community! It is our members that make ActiveRain a special place."
Nowhere in the Guidelines is it written that attacks or demeaning comments are permissible if a particular group doesn't fall under Federal Fair Housing Law. Active Rain has published a stated policy against attacks based upon sexual orientation.
This morning, there appears to be much controversy over a post by a member which calls upon members of the "Real Estate and Christianity" group to band together and flag another member's post as "not in the spirit of our community". The author of the anti-gay/lesbian post recently contributed a comment to his own post, describing those who disagreed with his opinions as "Sodomites" and "Sodomite sympathizers". This is libel. It is a personal and public attack on those who disagreed with the opinions expressed in his post.
Wikipedia defines hate speech as follows: "Hate speech is a term for speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a person or group of people based on their race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language ability, moral or political views...and any other distinction-liability. The term covers written as well as oral communication and some forms of behaviors in a public setting."
Attempting to organize a boycott of a fellow member's post is "prejudicial action", particularly when the boycott is based upon the issue of sexual orientation. And yes, these comments were made in written form, in a public setting, which further satisfies the definition of libel.
- I'd be curious to know if members of the "Christianity and Real Estate" group wish to have this individual (with his clearly-stated prejudicial views on sexual orientation) represent them and their views on Active Rain.
- Is the anti-gay/lesbian post by this individual something that creates a "sense of community" among members? Are his sentiments and opinions going to help make Active Rain "a special place"?
- Do YOU want consumers and members of the public to read posts such as the one in question and conclude that ALL real estate professionals and AR members share the same prejudiced views? How might this affect your business and your efforts to prospect using Active Rain as a marketing tool?
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