Intermediate: how to analyse the speaker of hate speech
Criteria to be considered
Status of the speaker
The answer options, in order of severity, are: “Regular citizen”, “Political figure”, “Public figure or influencer ”, “Educator”, “Public servant”. “Regular citizen” means that the hater’s status does not provide them with authority over the audience. “Political figure” refers to politicians or to similar figures (e.g. union leaders, NGO representatives). Choose “Public figure or influencer” when the speaker is a well-known figure (e.g. actors, vloggers, journalists, artists). “Educator” applies for teachers, university professors etc. “Public servant” refers to people who are supposed to serve all member of society without discriminating.
Capacity in which the speaker made the statement
Most of the time, the status of the speaker is the same as the capacity in which they deliver the expression. However, sometimes the capacity differs from the status, such as when a politician’s private conversation is leaked in the public space. The answer options are the same as for the status of the speaker: “Regular citizen”, “Political figure”, “Public figure or influencer”, “Educator”, “Public servant”.
Influence of the speaker on the group targeted by the expression
The answer options, in order of severity are: “Little to no influence”, “Limited influence”, “Moderate influence”, “High influence”. In order to assess this, you should look into how much damage the actions of the speaker acting in accordance to their status can cause to the targeted group targeted. A regular citizen engaging in hate speech will have less influence than a public servant whose daily work involves protecting the human rights of people against whom (s)he is speaking.