Politicians’ responsibility over the spread of hateful messages
In the aftermath of the US elections and the Brexit referendum there was a surge of hate crimes in both countries. These and other recent events like the anti-Semitic mass shooting in Pittsburgh in October and the violence during the Brazilian election campaign have raised a debate on the responsibility of political leaders in the use discriminatory language and the dissemination of hateful messages, especially through social networks. Albeit there are no conclusive findings on the subject, different studies suggest that the ‘normalisation’ of such discourses in mainstream politics has the capacity to legitimise and surface latent anti-minority sentiments.
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