Groups that once operated obscurely, handing out flyers in grocery store parking lots, now have their material on the Internet. While there are some recruitment efforts directly in schools, Carnes said, they are scattered and not widespread. Groups do not immediately recruit kids to carry out hate activities. Then groups reinforce that message on hate Web sites aimed at children as young as elementary school and in chat rooms. It s like the gang mentality or the cult mentality, where you have a group of people that you can associate with.
Adolescents are at a stage in their lives when they re questioning a lot of things.
The ADL is not trying to weaken the protection of free speech. Having said that, the Constitution and the Supreme Court have carved out areas of speech that are not free. Jim Carnes agreed, adding, Our legal position has been that that right stops at hurting others. The best way to respond is with more speech, not less, Goldberg said. When parents come across extremist speech or hate speech, particularly on the Internet, it s very important they talk to their children about it.