Hate mail
Encyclopedia
Hate mail is a form of harassment
, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient. Hate mail often contains exceptionally abusive, foul or otherwise hurtful language.
The recipient may receive disparaging remarks concerning the subject's ethnicity, sexuality
, religion
, intelligence
, political ideology
, sense of ethics
, or sense of aesthetics
. The text of hate mail often contains profanity
, or it may simply contain a negative, disappropriating message.
Forensic linguists have increasingly been called upon to identify authorship of hate mail. See for example 'Wordcrime' a case file series by John Olsson, UK forensic linguist, which details several cases.
Harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing...
, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient. Hate mail often contains exceptionally abusive, foul or otherwise hurtful language.
The recipient may receive disparaging remarks concerning the subject's ethnicity, sexuality
Human sexual behavior
Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
, political ideology
Ideologies of parties
This is a list of political ideologies. Many political parties base their political action and election program on an ideology. In social studies, a political ideology is a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, and or large...
, sense of ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, or sense of aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
. The text of hate mail often contains profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, or it may simply contain a negative, disappropriating message.
Forensic linguists have increasingly been called upon to identify authorship of hate mail. See for example 'Wordcrime' a case file series by John Olsson, UK forensic linguist, which details several cases.
See also
- Poison pen letterPoison pen letterA poison pen letter is a letter or note containing unpleasant, abusive or malicious statements or accusations about the recipient or a third party. It is usually sent anonymously. Poison pen letters are usually composed and sent to upset the recipient...
- Death threatDeath threatA death threat is a threat of death, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or groups of people. These threats are usually designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behavior, thus a death threat is a form of coercion...
- Flaming
- Hate crimeHate crimeIn crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
- Obscene phone callObscene phone callAn obscene phone call is an unsolicited telephone call where a person derives sexual pleasure by using sexual or foul language to an unknown person. Making obscene telephone calls for sexual pleasure is known as telephone scatologia and is considered a form of exhibitionism...
Scholarly articles
- "The politics of geography: - hate mail, rabid referees, and culture wars" Political GeographyPolitical geographyPolitical geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures...
, Vol. 20, No. 1, January 2001, pp. 1–12 - "'I Shoot Them with Words': An Analysis of Political Hate-Letters" British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 18, No. 4, October 1988, pp. 467–483
News articles
- "Jewish activists opposing the Israeli government's policies face intimidation and harassment via email and on the internet." Guardian UnlimitedGuardian Unlimitedguardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
, 19 January 2004 - "Racist Hate Mail Found In Durham Mailboxes" WRAL-TVWRAL-TVWRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle...
, 10 October 2006