A Shift of the Target With the availability of the Internet, not only the reach of white supremacist groups is changing, but also their targets. This is a significant shift in the demographics of the target audience because hate groups are reaching far beyond their traditional targets such as aging, less affluent whites, some troubled youth coming from deprived circumstances. Recruiting college-abound teens who live in middle class homes can provide a solid ground to justify their racial hatred. That is, they are not looking to blame others for their own troubles. Obviously, hate groups are trying to attract and influence young children with attractive and looking innocuous multimedia presentation designed to mask repulsive nature of hatred.
Children are the most vulnerable members of our society.
This issue becomes so critical because we now have dual burdens -how to deal with the proliferation of hate web sites in cyberspace and how to protect young minds from such hate messages. Hate sites are multiplying at an alarming rate in cyberspace. Not only hate group web sites are on the rise, but also are the number of hate groups in the United States. The Internet has become a First Amendment battleground. On the other hand, increasing number of people feel that some sort of control is necessary against hate speech even if this means abridging freedom of speech.