When political and media failures become public hate speakers!

At a time when social networks have become platforms for public self-indulgence and the denigration and anathematization of public figures, hate speech has begun to replace every norm of civic communication.

What was once a constructive debate with noble intentions has now turned into slander; what was once an argument is now anathema.

The sociological diagnosis of this phenomenon is alarming: a society that fosters denigration and verbal conflict, not only in its daily interpersonal and family communications, but also in public ones, is slowly but surely inclined to erode not only the code of moral behavior that it had built with full sacrifices in the past, but also to dismantle, contest, and even destroy the new institutional code that we are building together.

1. When protagonism becomes pathogenic

Recently, in addition to some failed politicians, moderators and teachers turned into (b)analysts, this denigrating ordeal has been joined by some "accidental" pseudo-journalists and former MPs, who, by using denigrating and contemptuous language - hate speech - have become a model of public debauchery!

The tragedy of this rampage goes so far that their denigrating and contemptuous language, which in most cases is accompanied by vengeful emotions and banal “moralizing” justifications, becomes so monotonous that it risks being installed as a new “democratic” standard and norm. All this sociocultural “promotion”, unprecedented in our culture and tradition of social communication, is identified in the sociological “imagination” as a cancel culture, which in Albanian means a systematic “consumption”, or an ever-permissive public attitude towards certain groups and individuals, who misuse their status, whether on social media or in other forms of mass communication. Essentially, this culture of anathematization and permissiveness does not seek justice, but humiliation. It does not judge the action, but the person. And consequently, it creates a spiral of contempt that transforms public opinion into a collective judge who is completely devoid of rationality, emotional feelings and ethical and moral criteria.

2. From debate to public lynching

Such pronouncements, loaded with personal and group frustrations and complexes, often provoke irritation and a massive reaction in the general public. This public anger, fueled by social networks, can also produce unexpected social consequences – as was the case with the “accident” that happened to MP Armend Zemaj, or public calls for conversions, at a time when Europe has been building a secular and secular society for two centuries!

These consequences often turn into calls for lynching, where the "wrong" individual is asked to give up the status or privileges they possess.

In this way, the network is transformed into an arena of "moral punishment", where people do not seek rational reflection, but draconian punishment, they do not seek the truth, but the spectacle of humiliation and denigration of others!

also Arberi 5 dhj 2025 Derogatory language, a reflection of the mentality rooted in society, say sociologists

3. When the culture of shame is replaced by the culture of contempt

In our traditional society, the culture of shame had a disciplinary function: it maintained order, family cohesion, and harmony as a heritage that was based and reconstructed on moral principles and social ethics.

Today, this norm has been replaced by a “culture of contempt”, where man tries to become visible through protagonism and conflict, and not through virtue and ethical and moral values. Modern man, being freer in choosing the way of communication, has also become more inclined and more eager for ugly protagonism – a tendency that is fed and stimulated much more by passion, likes, followers and virality, than by the need for protagonism of beauty, nobility, charity, justice, and the rule of law! According to cultural scientists, this kind of passion or crazy and disoriented passion for attention seeking is much more harmful than the classic deviant behaviors as they were and still are, such as; crime, corruption, theft, etc., because it conveys a new pathological model of public communication, in transitional societies like ours.

PS Let's not be complacent; A society that normalizes the language of hatred and public denigration cannot build institutions of peace, security, or stability. Because, such societies injected with such deviant "viruses" are undoubtedly destined to lose their moral compass and, similar to a body that rejects itself, begins to become infected and sick from within. Therefore, peaceful language and organic solidarity, in addition to being proven to be the most powerful argument for the mental health of a democratic society, is also the most powerful means of preserving state and national cohesion.

also Arberi 5 dhj 2025 Ombudsman: Every eighth comment on social networks contains hate speech

Whereas, the language of hate and denigration is the most dangerous virus of state, religious and national division.