By Raúl Antonio Capote on February 9, 2021
Illustration by Shannon Brady
In the world of social networks, there is a despicable specimen, the hater. The term, imported from English, refers to those people who are dedicated to harassing others through social networks.
Specialist in harassment, lone wolf or employee of Netcenters dedicated to backing campaigns against countries, governments or people, the hater is a hunter without scruples or ethics, capable of doing harm when we are not prepared to face them.
As a common element we can point out that these people use their victims’ physical characteristics, sexual orientation, race, ideology or religion to carry out their work of harassment.
There are those who do it for fun, out of resentment, out of envy, but others, to whom we will refer in this commentary, are true mercenaries, people hired to carry out campaigns to discredit or assassinate the character of people, public figures or governments.
Haters are individuals who suffer from great insecurity, are narcissistic, resentful, attention-seeking, and capable of doing anything to get their minutes of glory. They are often former bullies, with great personal shortcomings.
Victims of civic murder through cyberbullying are subjected to a constant, group attack in all digital spaces and media, without respite.
They seek to make the person subjected to the aggression feel helpless, think that they are not in control of the situation, wear themselves out in useless defenses, become exhausted, and seek to isolate themselves, to get as far away as possible from their harassers, the ultimate goal is for the victim to try to justify themselves publicly and self-censure, which does not necessarily put an end to the attack, it may even intensify it.
Many haters hide behind anonymity, but others seek celebrity and act under their real name on social networks.
They have been used massively against progressive governments in Latin America, against social leaders, against public figures opposed to the policies dictated from Washington, especially against the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The task force for Internet work against Cuba, in recent years, has hired dozens of haters articulated in a vast network of media, Netcenter and groups.
The leaders receive direct guidance from the CIA and receive high salaries, which makes the business of cyber-bullying against the island very lucrative.
Specialists in the subject indicate that the best way to fight them is to block their accounts and denounce them, but we know very well who the owners of the social networks are and this method does not give many results, nor is it convenient to enter into their game because these are not people who want to dialogue or discuss.
The best way is to organize the response, using our accounts and never on their turf, discrediting them and denouncing them from the truth and ethics, knowing what this cyber-bullying is all about, explaining it to everyone, so as not to be naive and fall into their traps. These are not times in which we can desert the networks using the hackneyed resource of “not giving them publicity”, they don’t need us for that, we have to fight them, never on their terrain so as not to position them, from our own, but silence is not a viable option.
The pack of haters is defenseless when we confront them with equanimity and intelligence, with the strength of arguments and ideas.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – Cuba, translation North America bureau