Anna has heard a lot about hate speech but never really knew what it meant. Moreover, she thought that people were just sharing their opinions. Nothing could be further from the truth. During this lesson, we will explore what it is and learn how to communicate effectively online.

Hate speech and opinion sound different and suggest what they mean. Even though, for some people, it is difficult to understand that they are sharing hate speech, not opinions, so they are insulting others, claiming that there is nothing bad in it.

We hope you can see the difference – hate speech is a personal attack and insulting, and opinion is expressing an individual perspective without disrespecting anyone.

You already know what hate speech and opinions are. But what is constructive criticism? It is a way to indicate exactly where the problem is, and also helps to correct it. It does not indicate the person as a problem, but a concrete problem.

Solve another task and decide if the sentences are constructive criticism.

Is it constructive criticism?

Simply put:

• hate speech is disrespecting other people and insulting them, telling them painful things;
• opinion is sharing our thoughts, but without personal attack;
• constructive criticism is indicating weaknesses which can be improved.

If you still cannot understand how to distinguish hate speech from opinion and constructive criticism, and how they can affect our lives, then see this short video.

We hope it is easy now 😀