Culture of Peace: Challenging Dehumanization through Social Media
Preface
1. About SMCP club
Student Movement for the Culture of Peace (SMCP) is an undergraduate initiative founded by students at Soka University of America (SUA) in September 2017, propelled by a desire to translate SUA’s values of peace, human rights, and the sanctity of life into concrete action. The club was founded based on inspiration from SUA Founder, Daisaku Ikeda’s 2006 peace proposal, where he called for action on “building a student-centered network to support the UN.” (2006 Peace Proposal by SGI President | Daisaku Ikeda Website, Daisaku Ikeda, p.10) This club is designed to create networks of global citizens who strive to actualize the culture of peace by supporting UN actions. This club’s purpose follows the mission statement of SUA, and we actualize “fostering a steady stream of global citizens committed to living a contributive life” through club activities. In practice, we focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Nuclear Disarmament, raising awareness of the importance of a sustainable future at SUA, in the local community and worldwide.
2. Purpose of the proposal
SMCP club organize an annual SMCP event as it is an opportunity for us to share our mission with the entire SUA community. Acknowledging the urgency to disperse the idea of the culture of peace, we determined to construct our own peace proposal starting from this year. The founder of SUA has continuously published peace proposals to explore the diverse challenges global society faces in the effort to realize peace and human security for almost 40 years since 1983. The peace proposal serves the purpose of extending the alliance of the global citizens who strive to embody the culture of peace. It includes all the students, faculty, and staff at SUA and those outside of the SUA’s community. As a club that extensively interconnects with and plays a role toward a student hub of the culture of peace, we, SMCP, aspire to be the successor of peace proposal authors to succeed it to the forthcoming youths.
*1: Daisaku Ikeda, (26 Jan 2006) “2006 Peace Proposal: A New Era of the People: Forging a Global Network of Robust Individuals” 10; https://www.daisakuikeda.org/main/peacebuild/peace-proposals/pp2006.html
3. Definition of the culture of peace and dehumanization
Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed*2.
—UNESCO
The culture of peace is a concept born out of this philosophy to “construct defences of peace” in the minds of people by their everyday actions. Individual passion to embody peace on a daily basis lies at the heart of the culture of peace, as mentioned in the UN resolution:
a culture of peace . . . consists of values, attitudes and behaviours that reflect and inspire social interaction and sharing based on the principles of freedom, justice and democracy, all human rights, tolerance and solidarity, that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation and that guarantee the full exercise of all rights and the means to participate fully in the development process of their society*3.
The culture of peace is built by individuals’ consistent daily actions to thwart fundamental seeds of violence and conflicts.
Although it has been almost 80 years since the end of World War II, still problems abound that threaten the safety and dignity of life around the world. One such problem is dehumanization. Dehumanization is defined as being indifferent to others’ sufferings*4. It generates the tendency to label people, creating a gap between self and others and compromising people’s willingness to confront the challenges humankind faces with respect for individual dignity. To encourage people to embody a culture of peace, we must alter this tendency of dehumanization into active engagement with people from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, political, religious, and geographical backgrounds.
*2: UNESCO, (16 Nov 1945), “Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,” 1; http://www.un-documents.net/unesco-c.htm.
*3: UN General Assembly, (20 Nov 1997), “A/RES/52/13 – Culture of peace – UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements”, 1; http://www.un-documents.net/a52r13.htm.
*4: Nick Haslam. (2006). “Dehumanization: An Integrative Review” Personality and Social Psychology Review. vol.2 no.3, 262
4. Nature of social media (negative & positive)
This year, SMCP focuses on social media because of its potential to have both positive and negative impacts on the construction of the culture of peace. These days, social media has become one of the most widely used tools for providing and getting information from all over the world. Social media includes websites and applications in which people can share information and connect with others. It is a platform for storytelling, cultural exchange, and networking. However, people tend to dehumanize information by disregarding posts distant from their interests or about people in different situations. Furthermore, social media users can become jaded through their constant exposure to one-sided information. Tendencies, such as ignorance, fear, violence, and intolerance, continuously prevent people from the positive use of social media. On the other hand, social media allows people to connect with others and learn various thoughts, values, and ways of life. When people pay attention to the story behind the information, they recognize the human behind that story. Social media has the power to promote communication and enable people to overcome differences. In this way, social media has the potential to be a tool to build a culture of peace.
5. Symposium
On May 4th, 2023, SMCP held a symposium with two guest speakers and the SUA community under the theme of “Culture of Peace: Media and Communication.” The purpose of this symposium was to explore how to embody the culture of peace through media and communication by valuing the profound potential that each of us possesses. It is easy to notice social issues existing in society and feel powerless. However, the culture of peace highlights the boundless potential of each individual to make a better society. Hope is not passively given by others. Hope is mustered by oneself. This means anyone can advocate for peace and embody the culture of peace regardless of the difficulties they might face. The symposium embarked on this great journey to construct the culture of peace all around the world.
6. Guest speakers
During the symposium, participants gained valuable lessons from two guest speakers on how to embody the culture of peace on a daily basis. Nathen Gauer, Associate Director of Strategic Marketing and Communication at SUA, shared his profound experiences as a peace builder. He emphasized that respecting human dignity and perceiving interconnectedness among everyone are crucial steps to create a society where each person is respected. One way to create a humanized society, Nathan explained, is to use social media in an ethical and responsible way. The tendency of dehumanizing information on social media is an issue to consciously and actively tackle. Dr. Pavitra Kavya Friedman, Assistant Professor of Communication at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, highlighted social media’s potential contribution to the culture of peace. She argued the greatest benefit of social media is its ability to connect people from distant places. Through these connections, people can become compassionate and take action to alleviate harm to humanity. Gleaning from both speakers’ insightful wisdom, participants developed a strong conviction to embody the culture of peace through any means, especially social media, which play influential roles in daily life.
7. Action Plan
We suggest two action plans based on the idea of building a culture of peace through the use of social media and communication. The goal of our action plans is to humanize people’s suffering by challenging the tendency to dehumanize information on social media.
The first action plan is to follow three social media accounts that address global and local issues that social media users have not previously made efforts to explore. The purpose is for users to compare different sources to verify the credibility of information and recognize issues that they tend to overlook. The social media accounts that users follow should be a credible source of information.
SIFT is a fact-checking tool to evaluate the credibility of the information on the Internet with a quick 4-step design. Briefly, SIFT means, 1) Stop: take a moment to question the reliability of the sources before sharing information, 2) Investigate the source: examine the author’s background to determine their credibility and expertise, 3) Find better coverage: find other legitimate sources, such as news articles, trusted institutions, and scholars, which discuss similar topics, and 4) Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context: check the original source or image and make sure the claim is accurate and properly referenced. SIFT helps social media users evaluate posts and select reliable information. The validity of the information that users reference should be guaranteed because misinformation and disinformation lead to the misinterpretation of an issue (University of Washington Library, 2022).
Following credible social media accounts can provide a chance to raise awareness of unrecognized issues while users passively scroll through content. This is because various social media accounts increasingly disseminate information about issues threatening humanity. Therefore, by following reliable social media accounts, users can see posts about global and local issues that they have been indifferent to. In this way, the first action plan aims to offer social media users a chance to recognize the presence of issues that they have not yet humanized.
The second action plan is to talk with others about the information from the three social media accounts. The purpose is to humanize what one learned on social media by habitually bringing it up in daily conversation. Promoting dialogue and social interaction is an essential element of the culture of peace. Thus, users need to overcome their tendency to disconnect the information on social media from daily life and in-person relationships. When the users share and discuss the contents on social media in daily conversation, they can deepen their understanding and thoughts, exchange different ideas, and raise awareness of the issues. This process humanizes information on social media.
8. Conclusion
Social media is a tool to exchange information and communicate with others. Social media can bring about both positive and negative effects depending on users’ attitudes; social media can aggravate dehumanization if users are irresponsible and indifferent to different opinions, while it can connect people and raise awareness of social issues if users seek to do so. To make the most of the positive aspects and transform the negativity of social media created by users’ indifference, users should realize their connectedness with issues and the people behind them. SMCP proposes two action plans that every social media user can practice to engage with information and expand perspectives: follow three reliable social media accounts and discuss the findings with others. Through these action plans, each person can recognize their interconnectedness and embody a culture of peace.
References
2006 Peace Proposal by SGI President | Daisaku Ikeda Website. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2023, from https://www.daisakuikeda.org/main/peacebuild/peace-proposals/pp2006.html
A/RES/52/13—Culture of peace—UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements. (20 Nov 1997). Retrieved June 2, 2023, from http://www.un-documents.net/a52r13.htm
Constitution of UNESCO – UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements. (16 Nov 1945). Retrieved June 2, 2023, from http://www.un-documents.net/unesco-c.htm
Evaluating Social Media—Evaluating Information—Guides at Johns Hopkins University. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2023, from https://guides.library.jhu.edu/evaluate/social-media
Haslam, N. (2006). Dehumanization: An Integrative Review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(3), 252–264. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1003_4
Social Media—Savvy Info Consumers—Library Guides at University of Washington Libraries. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2023, from https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/evaluate/socialmedia
WHO online consultation meeting to discuss global principles for identifying credible sources of health information on social media. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2023, from https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/who-online-consultation-meeting-to-discuss-global-principles-for-identifying-credible-sources-of-health-information-on-social-media