Don’t get it too often, but on occasion I will get the question about a certain political figure here. I reply that I am neutral with respect to politics and that usually suffices.
Then at certain times of the year, like now, I am asked what I am doing for the “holidays.” Then I give my reply in a respectful way. If the other person is curious and wants to know why I don’t celebrate them, then I explain my stance.
Really? Calling someone rubbish is just passionate? I’d call that hateful!
i am a citizen of one of the EU states and lived in the UK up until recently and i have received quite a few messages on cards and thank you notes which included remarks about Brexit. some of them were nice and positive but maybe 3-4 of them were on a negative/cheeky side. but i learned to ignore them, whether it’s done in person, at work or via postcards…
It could be, for sure. (Even if “rubbish” was not the exact word used in OP’s example–she translated it to a comparable word in English–the significance may have been the same.) It depends on the specific context, culture, and intention, of course…so we’re probably just getting into semantics at this point. 
You’re obviously right that equating people to garbage is dehumanizing in general, and usually unwise to do on a postcard to a stranger. 
Colloquially, though, we often make similarly dismissive statements about people whose ideas or behavior we find unacceptable, and depending on the scenario, I would hesitate to say that all examples of that are hateful, but I could be wrong. They might be based in justifiable frustration.
That said, it’s probably best to keep those sentiments out of Postcrossing, just in case. 
It seems to defeat the purpose of giving postcards for fun. I’m sorry for that persons mental state.
I see OP is from Hong Kong and I have a bit of an idea what kind of messages and even the exact words she got from the card… It might be due to my opposite stance from the sender of the postcard but I’d be kinda mad if I had received such a message and would report them to the admin. I understand that people are entitled to their own political opinions but that is not an excuse to start throwing offensive speech and accusations to other people that you don’t even know.
You can remind people to be kind and friendly but you can’t censor what they send to someone. If you suspend their account then they’re only going to register under a different name and email the next time. I’ve seen many people with multiple profiles even which they have the same avatar on their different profiles. It only takes an ounce of common sense to treat people with dignity and respect and I hope that people don’t get into heated political discussions. I’ve received postcards in the past that truly offend me even some stamps that offend me but I would never want to take away that person’s right to freely express themselves. It’s better just to smile and move on.
Ana is the moderator; she is enforcing rules, not censoring.
Right. Paulo is the god with all the power.
@melimar @PinkNoodle
I also notice the guideline “be polite” but I’m just wondering guideline is just guideline, not an obligation nor a strict rule, so that’s why I don’t want to report this issue at the very beginning.
@anon12415063 @meiadeleite
Maybe I’ll send a message to the moderator to tell them something had happened (and will probably happen again) just to alert.
@elanlei @minemi
That is so sad… and agree with @Axolotl that people should understand that even in a same country there are different views towards an agenda. It is not good to assume people’s political view and condemn them. To me expressing a certain extent of worry to a particular political issue is my bottom line already.
@Leofox @anon95027724
I’m trying to draft a registration message at least in the same “language” of the sender… as some users already noticed that I’m from Hong Kong and I don’t really want to stir up trouble.
@_annalies
That’s a pretty interesting card although I will try to avoid sending it unless the receiver has strong interest in cards with political view.
@FrogSalad
I like what you’d mention about egregious! But this is challenging since people growing up in different communities have different understanding towards an issue/a value… something for us is egregious (e.g. head-hunting, literally) would be correct to some others (it’s a traditional practice to some ethnic groups). The world is changing and splitting too fast, and another set of “human universal value” is emerging (remember there is still dispute towards wearing mask to prevent COVID-19 earlier this year), so I will avoid criticizing others as egregious, but maybe “uncivil” as LC-Canada said.
@LC-Canada
Thanks for your explanation! So does hate speech relate more to those inborn features rather than a thought? How about “dehumanizing” as PinkNoodle mentioned? Just thinking of another example… what if nowadays there are some people still believing that the earth is flat instead of a sphere, is it considered hate speech if those flat-believer is rubbish…?
@Lleytoncassidy
Thanks for your message! I am not really getting mad, but more confusing, because the sender wish people with different political view can get along well together, but the rest of the message is full of “too bad/rubbish”… Completely agree that having different political view is not an excuse to offense others.
Firstly, I’m sorry you received a card that made you feel dehumanised 
Two questions, because I don’t want to make wrong assumptions:
Hi @PhoebeWai, there is no agreement of what constitutes hate speech precisely at an international level, but many, many democracies have laws defining it & prohibiting it in varying ways. These laws, in many cases, have also been written with a view to balancing the rights of freedom of expression as well - it can be a complicated, but critical balancing act.
Here are 3 examples to give you a better idea and even though they are different they cover the ground well of what hate speech is & what it can incite in the way of discrimination, harm or violence.
"The European Court of Human Rights, in a definition adopted by the Council of Europe’s
Committee of Ministers, considers ‘hate speech’ as: “all forms of expression which spread,
incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred
based on intolerance, including intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and
ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility towards minorities, migrants and people of
immigrant origin.”9
– YouTube, in its community guidelines, describes ‘hate speech’ as: “content that promotes
violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on certain attributes, such as: race
or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/
gender identity.”10
– The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa considers ‘hate speech’ to be
“material which, judged within context sanctions, promotes or glamorizes violence based
on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or
mental or physical disability” or “propaganda for war; incitement of imminent violence; or
advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes
incitement to cause harm.” 12"
Source: https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/38231/Hate_speech_report-ID-files--final.pdf
Hello -
My thought on this is, the idea behind this is to connect people across the world. I do not post anything regarding politics, religion, etc. I would never send a political postcard, even if it was posted in the person’s profile that they were ok with it. I try to stick with innocuous wishes like: “I am really into eggplant pamesan!” or “I really like photos of hedge clippers!”. The only thing I have done that would skirt the edge of this is Christmas card exchanges, but I figured if someone is in a forum for a Christmas card exchange they want a card with something Christmas-y on it. I go for snowmen, wreaths, and sledding kids crashing into snowbanks though, not biblical references.
As far as written messages on the back, I just like to write about funny knowledge from my country, state or hometown (and Texas has plenty), or specific things that a person has asked on their profile like: “5 things that make you happy”. This year has been divisive enough. Something like this should bring a bit of joy to people through pretty, fun images through the post and nice, supportive and/ or funny messages on the back.
If I got a questionable card, I would respond that I had received it, thank the person and file it with my others, as I do with all of my postcards. If it was outright hate speech, I would follow the rules and let the Postcrossing team know, then let my boys use it for target practice for their airsoft rifles or flamethrowers or something.
100% my opinion though
Which is funny because I just said I wouldn’t want to give my opinion on anything and then just gave y’all a whole big ol’ mess of it. Oh well.
I’m very, very sorry to hear that you received something that you feel offended. Living in a highly polarized society, I completely understand what does it feel like to receive something like that.
As a sender, I fully understand that people can easily feel offended by political content. Expressing an opinion to someone who doesn’t agree with you is a daunting task. Hence, when talking about politics, we need to think more about how to make the receiver feel they’re fully respected. I have expressed my excitement when Joe Biden got elected this November to several people on the postcards, but I never attacked Trump supporters. Although we hold very different views, we still have some common sense, right? We all love freedom, we all agree that COVID must be contained, and we all support democracy (although some people may think democracy is fraudulent this time). What I would like to advise people who talk about politics is to start arguments with common sense.
(Oh, don’t assume someone thinks alike most people in that region! For example, 65% of the people in the county in which my university is located voted for Biden this year. If you assume someone in this heavily blue county will celebrate the Biden win, you can still be wrong - how about the 33% voting for Trump?)
As a receiver, personally, I am open to different political views. I will extraordinarily appreciate it if someone can share a view that I oppose - it’s super important to learn something from those who think differently from us. Honoring the way people think differently is honoring the way people are different. However, there is a distinction between expressing political views and hate speech. I’ll communicate with the sender first and wait for an apology since what I believe to be hate speech is not necessarily what others believe to be hate speech. If I can determine that the sender deliberately send some hate speech to me, of course, I’ll report the card to the Postcrossing team. (I’ll be extraordinarily prudent with reporting and avoid using that to attack my political opposers.)
I also never comment on sensitive topics, although I did say in my last card that I hate the way the world is right now and can’t wait for this winter to end - and I know covid is also a contrevircial topic. I’m even worried to send one of my postcards because it shows a whole bunch of local products made of meat - I don’t want it to end with a vegitarian who will be horified by it!
I think most people who care put into their profiles if they’re vegetarian, like I do. 
Tbh, I wouldn’t overthink this if I was you. If they don’t like the card, they can say so or don’t - there’ll always be people who don’t like the card you sent them, no matter how carefully chosen.
Thanks for your message 
Yes it’s about Hong Kong politics. The writer does not come from Hong Kong.
At least it was a very reasonable opinion so don’t fret over it.
@LC-Canada
I see… so probably different communities are facing different issues so they have slight differences on what they concern. Thanks very much for your information!
@wordenjk
Yeah I also sent a message to the postcrossing team already… just to let them alert this issue
@anon62785190
Thanks for your message! Totally agreed that it’s super important to learn from a different angle… what’s their rationale, how they think, why they come up with this idea etc., I’m open to discussion, but just feel a bit sad to receive condemnation.
@siseto90
Me also… I tried to avoid sending image of pig since I know pig is considered not good in Islamic teaching.
It’s hardly hateful to deprecate a politician. It’s not necessary and perhaps impolite and inconsiderate but people are quite at liberty to speak their mind in general, so why not on a postcard?