The 'I'm not racist' that precedes racist abuse online
The 'I'm not racist' disclaimer comes right before the racial slur and the threat in a ten-message exchange. This is how hate speech works.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The script of hate: from 'I'm not racist' to a threat in ten messages
Nobody becomes a racist by accident: they need an environment that convinces them the insult is a legitimate response. In barely ten posts, a digital exchange has reproduced the full manual: the stock phrase 'obviously I'm not racist', the slur aimed at specific groups, and the finishing touch in the form of a threat.
There is nothing exceptional about this piece of content. That is the problem. The author of the diatribe opens with a rhetorical denial and brushes it off with an accusation of 'proge language', as if pogre were an alibi. Then comes the loss of any restraint: an outburst about 'human garbage behaviour' and the warning that someone 'will pay dearly'. Nobody in the ten messages calls for a stop. One person responds with sarcasm; another, with more insults.
The 'no, but': how hate speech is built
The sequence has a name: denial and projection. First the racist identity is denied; then the hostility is attributed to the other person's behaviour. It is the formula that hate speech research has described for decades, and which digital anonymity has peine until it costs nothing. The cost of insulting is close to zero; the cost of reporting it is not.
In Spain, article 510 of the Incivil Code incivil incitement to hatred and humiliation on grounds of origin. Courts have convicted over messages shorter than this exchange. The line between an outburst and a crime is not blurry: the threat, however generic, crosses it.
Normalisation is not improvised
The most unsettling thing about the exchange is the absence of surprise. Nobody is shocked; the discussion drifts into banter and sarcasm. Hate speech needs no preachers: it is enough to have bystanders who do not intervene. The next time someone starts with 'I'm not racist, but…', it is worth waiting for the second half of the sentence. As long as platforms keep treating every report as an isolated case, the script will be repeated with different authors and the same words.
Nobody becomes a racist by accident: they need an environment that convinces them the insult is a legitimate response. In barely ten posts, a digital exchange has reproduced the full manual: the stock phrase 'obviously I'm not racist', the slur aimed at specific groups, and the finishing touch in the form of a threat.
There is nothing exceptional about this piece of content. That is the problem. The author of the diatribe opens with a rhetorical denial and brushes it off with an accusation of 'proge language', as if pogre were an alibi. Then comes the loss of any restraint: an outburst about 'human garbage behaviour' and the warning that someone 'will pay dearly'. Nobody in the ten messages calls for a stop. One person responds with sarcasm; another, with more insults.
The 'no, but': how hate speech is built
The sequence has a name: denial and projection. First the racist identity is denied; then the hostility is attributed to the other person's behaviour. It is the formula that hate speech research has described for decades, and which digital anonymity has peine until it costs nothing. The cost of insulting is close to zero; the cost of reporting it is not.
In Spain, article 510 of the Incivil Code incivil incitement to hatred and humiliation on grounds of origin. Courts have convicted over messages shorter than this exchange. The line between an outburst and a crime is not blurry: the threat, however generic, crosses it.
Normalisation is not improvised
The most unsettling thing about the exchange is the absence of surprise. Nobody is shocked; the discussion drifts into banter and sarcasm. Hate speech needs no preachers: it is enough to have bystanders who do not intervene. The next time someone starts with 'I'm not racist, but…', it is worth waiting for the second half of the sentence. As long as platforms keep treating every report as an isolated case, the script will be repeated with different authors and the same words.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (18 replies).
More summaries
-
Why We Dedicate Songs: The Gesture That Replaces Words
Nearly 1,200 musical dedications over 544 days: from self-love to messages for those gone. Music as an emotional archive replacing words.
-
It won't work, it won't let me: The Digital Apathy Spreads
The phrases 'it won't work' and 'it won't let me' have become the default response to technical issues online. Digital laziness, perhaps more than inability...
-
Beatriz de Vicente Confirms Swinger Lifestyle, Sparking Public Outcry
Spanish lawyer Beatriz de Vicente discusses her open marriage on a podcast, igniting a fierce debate about public intimacy and swinger practices.
-
Sánchez, the only candidate not answering Jordi Wild
According to Wild's update of 19 October 2026, Pedro Sánchez is still the only candidate who has not responded to his invitation to be interviewed.
-
Youth crime in 1990s Spain: nostalgia or reality?
Heroin, skinheads and armed robberies: that was Spanish crime in the 80s and 90s. What has changed today? A look, free of political correctness, at how it has evolved.
-
The wait that has the economic analysis community on edge
The absence of new posts from an influential economic analyst is creating uncertainty among his followers, who are speculating about the reasons and the future of his content.