“No tolerance for intolerance”

The Heirs of the Rose is the first campaign in Germany to take a stand against this under the motto “Stop hate propaganda! First check, then share”. The campaign calls on people not to allow themselves to become henchmen of viral hate speech on the internet. Instead of calling for bans or censorship, the project initiated last November by the New Potsdam Tolerance Edict association advocates that users of social networks develop a heightened awareness of how to deal with manipulative content. The campaign is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth . “Propaganda is an attempt to influence the public using manipulative methods. Hate propaganda is an amplification, it aims to create feelings of anger, rage and hatred against people of a different culture, religion, origin, sexual orientation, against other countries or against another ethnic group,” is the short definition of the initiators of the project. To make it easier for users of social networks to recognize hate propaganda, the campaign provides explanations of how it works and a checklist for identifying propaganda and hate propaganda. The work of the campaign is supported by experts with many years of experience in the film and media industry. Numerous individual supporters and various personalities from society, politics and science have now signed the project’s appeal. The Humanist Association of Germany also supports the appeal of The Heirs of the Rose. In support of the appeal, Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, said on Monday afternoon in Berlin: “Any propaganda of absolute hatred against individuals or groups is inhumane and makes people inhumane. Hate propaganda is an abuse of freedom of opinion, speech and art and represents an attack on humanist principles.” The spread of hate propaganda is not limited to groups or individuals acting out of religious or purely political motives, Wolf continued. And even atheist or agnostic people are not immune to considering hate propaganda as a means to their ends or succumbing to its effects as media consumers. Therefore, the campaign “Stop hate propaganda! First check, then share” campaign is to be welcomed and supported as a valuable contribution and food for thought for a peaceful and tolerant society. “No tolerance for intolerance – that is one of our maxims. Hate and intolerance destroy the cohesion of our society. That is why humanists must do everything in their power, including on social networks, to stop the spread of messages of extremist and totalitarian ideas, regardless of their ideological or political orientation.”

www.stoppt-hasspropaganda.de