By engaging participants specific to the threat of language that encourages factional or genocidal behavior, TSP enables participants to distinguish and discuss the differences between playful, derogatory, and toxic speech in order to prevent the linguistic realities that have led to ethnic, political and religious genocides in the past.
Program Overview
Toxic Speech Prevention is an engaging language-focused curriculum designed to provide a history of genocide in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with a focus on the linguistic conditions which give rise to mass participation in these atrocities.
TSP uses a combination of reflective games and discussion topics to engage participants on their own beliefs on the subject while providing history and statistics to show the realities of these dangers. By allowing participants to come to their own conclusions we have seen that the effects of the training are more authentically received and are capable of having a greater impact in the communities of our participants.
Not all harmful speech is immediately offensive. We live in a highly interconnected world, with technology and politics changing the way we speak to and about each other. It is important to reflect on how we speak regularly, but even more so in a world with more and more cases of explicit anti-semitism, racism, nationalism, and isolationism. By understanding how we all give permission to some of these voices, and when they become a threat, we can better understand how to return to civil discourse.
If you are interested in learning more about how we can improve the way we speak with and about people who disagree with us; and wish to defend the humanity of all people, even in small ways, please fill out the form below for more information.
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