The PD workshop Deconstructing Online Hate, examines the continuum of hate on the Web – from examples of putdown culture, e-mail insults, and Web sites that use humour at the expense of others, to online games that promote degradation as entertainment and Web sites that are hosted by organized hate groups.

The workshop is presented in two parts. Part One looks at how the Internet provides hate mongers with a powerful, interactive forum for distributing their views – and targeting youth through online clubs, music and games. It illustrates and examines the specific tactics of hate mongers, such as wordplay, historical revisionism, and the use of symbols, religious authority, pseudo-science, fear-mongering and nationalism.

Part Two focuses on how teachers can help students tackle online hate through “Web smart” strategies, critical thinking and learning about the issue, and it emphasizes the importance of teaching students to use the filters “in their own heads” to critically assess Web information. Participants are taken through a step-by-step deconstruction of a revisionist hate site. They learn where online hate falls under the Criminal Code of Canada, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canadian Human Rights Act and are introduced to the legal challenges in applying Canadian laws to a global medium like the Internet.

Deconstructing Online Hate promotes an approach for the classroom that sensitizes students to factors in the popular media culture that may contribute to people’s receptiveness to hate messages, and it introduces participants to Web sites for young people that promote respect and counter hate.

(Grades 7 and 8)

The learning module, Allies and Aliens, allows students to play the part of agents, on a mission from planet Earth to assess the varying degrees of prejudice and misinformation on the “Galactic Web” as they visit the fictional Web sites or “nodes” of other planets. Most kids don’t think to look for bias or false information online, and subtle forms of racism may be difficult to recognize. For this reason, Allies and Aliens uses the pretence of an evaluation mission to keep players from guessing its true purpose right away. The mission is divided into two parts. On Day One, students encounter information with little direction. On Day Two, the module's purpose becomes apparent.

Allies and Aliens aims to teach students the basics about bias, stereotyping, misinformation and propaganda techniques, on the Internet and in other media. It also helps students to understand the difference between fact and opinion, and the importance of authenticating online information. The challenges of this module will ultimately sharpen students’ research skills as well as their critical thinking skills. The experience will teach them to recognize viewpoint, bias, and manipulation – online and off.

These lessons are also available free in MNet’s Lesson Library.

Thinking about Hate (Grades 8-10)
This lesson focuses on developing students’ critical thinking skills to help them authenticate online information and recognize bias and hate on the Internet.

Understanding Online Hate (Grades 10-12)
This lesson challenges students to assess and contextualize sample Web pages, whose content ranges from harmless satire to hate propaganda. Students are encouraged to consider why hate groups use the Net and how the same technology can help expose hatemongers.

Propaganda Techniques on Hate Sites
(Grades 10-12)
Students learn about propaganda and the specific techniques commonly used to promote hate on the Web. Included are handouts on propaganda techniques and “logical fallacies,” as well as a quiz.

Free Speech Versus the Internet
(Grades 10-12)
Students learn about the inherent tension within democratic societies between freedom of expression and freedom from hate, and specifically how Canada has addressed this issue. Includes a case study and a handout describing how Canada’s Criminal Code, Human Rights Act and Charter of Rights and Freedoms deal with hate.