“Man’s inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good.” –Martin Luther King Jr. Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Professor Zachary D. Kaufman ’s presentation on Lessons for Today from the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda hosted by the Johannesburg Holocaust & Geno cide Ce ntre . Among the many takeaways highlighted by Professor Kaufman and drawn from Lessons from Rwanda: Post-Genocide Law and Policy were ten simple yet profound lessons: Lesson #1: Hate speech is dangerous. To illustrate the role that hate speech played in the Rwandan genocide, Professor Kaufman discussed multiple forms of propaganda , such as Kangura, Radio Rwanda, and RTLM “hate radio.” He concludes that we must have limits, including with respect to social media, and further asserts that social media must do a better job of combatting hate speech and disinformation. Less
The Blog of the University of Houston Law Center O'Quinn Law Library