Global existential risks comprise more than anthropogenic climate chaos/drought/inundation, asteroid impacts/megavolcanoes, bioterrorism/pandemics, cyberterrorism/grid failure, inequality-induced war/ nuclear holocaust, runaway AI, or unintended CRISPR/biotechnological failure. Understanding the catastrophic exinanition[1] of humanity through study of the risks of increased propensities for suicide, abuse, terror, and generalized selfishness and anomie[2] and their potential countervalences is also crucial.
An initial understanding can be obtained through descriptive means; later work can become more prescriptive. As an example, in a school setting, a formulization for hate minimization can take the following form:
1. Hate prevention training can be provided to all staff, including teachers, administrators, school security personnel, and support staff. All school employees, including teachers, administrators, support staff, bus drivers, and security staff, should be aware of the various manifestations of hate and be competent to address hate incidents. Training shall include anti-bias and conflict resolution methods; procedures for identifying and reporting incidents of racial, religious, and sexual harassment, discrimination, and hate crime; strategies for preventing such incidents from occurring; and resources available to assist in dealing with these incidents.
2. Ensuring that all students receive hate prevention training through age-appropriate classroom activities, assemblies, and other school-related activities. Prejudice and discrimination are learned attitudes and behaviors. Neither is uncontrollable or inevitable. Teaching children that subtle forms of hate-such as ethnic slurs or epithets, negative or offensive name-calling, stereotyping, and exclusion-are hurtful and inherently wrong can help to prevent more extreme, violent manifestations of hate. Through structured classroom activities and programs, children can begin to develop empathy, while practicing the critical thinking and conflict resolution skills needed to recognize and respond to various manifestations of hate behavior.
3 Partnerships can be developed within and across families, community organizations, and law enforcement agencies. Hate crime prevention cannot be accomplished by schools alone. Schools can encourage the development of partnerships with parent groups, youth serving organizations, criminal justice agencies, victim assistance organizations, businesses, advocacy groups, and religious organizations. These partnerships can help identify resources available to school personnel to address hate incidents, raise community awareness of the issue, ensure appropriate responses to hate incidents, and ensure that youth receive a consistent message that hate-motivated behavior will not be tolerated.
4. A hate prevention policy can be developed and distributed to every student, every student’s family, and every school employee. An effective hate prevention policy promotes a school climate in which racial, religious, ethnic, gender, and other differences, as well as freedom of thought and expression, are respected and appreciated. Such a policy should be developed with the input of parents, students, teachers, community members, and school administrators. It will include a description of the types of behavior prohibited under the policy; the roles and responsibilities of students and staff in preventing and reporting hate incidents or crimes; the range of possible consequences for engaging in this type of behavior; and locations of resources in the school and community where students can go for help. It respects diverse viewpoints, freedom of thought, and freedom of expression. Every student is informed of the contents of the school’s policy on hate crime on a periodic basis.
5. A range of corrective actions can be developed for those who violate school hate-prevention policies. The school can encourage taking a firm position against all injurious manifestations of hate, from ethnic slurs, racial epithets, and taunts, to graffiti, vandalism, discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and violence. Schools can develop a wide range of non-disciplinary corrective actions to respond to incidents, including counseling, parent conferences, community service, awareness training, or completion of a research paper on an issue related to hate, as well as disciplinary actions such as in-school suspension or expulsion. School officials should be prepared to contact local, state, or federal civil rights officials to respond to more serious incidents and, in cases involving criminal activity or threat of criminal activity, should call the police.
6. Schools can collect and use data to focus school-wide hate prevention efforts. Collection of data on the occurrence of school-based hate incidents or crimes assists administrators and teachers to identify patterns and to more effectively implement hate prevention policies and programs. To obtain such data, the school may include questions regarding hate crime on surveys they conduct related to school crime and discipline, as well as collect and analyze incident-based data on specific hate incidents and crimes. In the latter case, the school may encourage working closely with local law enforcement personnel to collect uniform and consistent data on hate crime.
7. Structured opportunities for integration can be provided. Young people can begin to interact across racial and ethnic lines through school supported organizations and activities. Multi-ethnic teams of students can work together on community service projects, to organize extracurricular events, or to complete class projects. Students can participate in service- learning projects in which they tutor, coach, or otherwise assist younger students from diverse backgrounds.
[1] In a psychological and physical rather than a theological sense.
[2] With echoes of Durkheim. This could be conceptualized as societal lingchi by bullying.