Media, don’t be an accomplice in spreading harmful hate speech

What the heck is going on in this amazing country? We are all so fortunate to be living in this great country, but for some reason we can’t stop the bitterness and hate that is permeating our society.

Why are we and our media doing nothing about it? Are ratings and sensationalism more important than quality of life ? C’mon, you guys — you have the power of the media to either positively or negatively impact thinking, yet the latter is so often chosen just “to get audience ratings.” Is it really that important to put ratings and advertising dollars ahead of the health and well-being of our society and its future generation?

Whether left or right, it’s totally irrelevant. The hate is equally distributed by both sides. People like comedian Samantha Bee (whoever she is; never heard of her), Kathy Griffin, and Roseanne Barr contribute nothing to society other than promulgating and encouraging more hate between people. Why? Only to get publicity to which our media is constantly accommodating and even contributive.

The entire mission of our work is to teach young people how dangerous hate, and prejudice, and intolerance are, and how critical it is for each of us to stand up against ALL forms of hate and intolerance. We do this through the lessons of Holocaust education. We feel a great social responsibility to help young people understand the dangers of hate and prejudice. But how can we do this if all they see on TV is the hate spewed from both the right and the left that is broadcast all day long in front of their faces?

The media must realize that it’s role within society is to inform, discuss, and entertain. However, the media really hurts our society, and our children growing within this society, by constantly exposing and giving publicity to those that spew hate. We really must stop it. Free speech is great and a gift of being American, but there also needs to be reasonable limits and discipline within our media to not be a collaborator in fostering hate by giving these “publicity seekers” the attention they crave through the use of vile tweets.

I beg of you — all media — left, right or center, please help us to be a more tolerant, more respectful, and less hateful society by no longer giving publicity and platforms for those who promulgate hate.