Freedom

A writer I am connected to had an unfortunate encounter on Twitter with a pack of white supremicists. Because her cover photo shows a biracial couple, they decided to attack her over night and attempt to get her to engage. She did everything correctly, refusing to take their bait and reporting them to Twitter. She was disappointed that Twitter did not kick them off, close them down, or do something else to limit their spread of hate, threats, and hurt feelings.

I have a different view of these people. Twitter is a private company. I don’t want them given the power to choose who speaks and who is silenced. Gods know I don’t think the Government should have that kind of power. No, I want the button. I can change the channel, block a contact, mute a conversation and unfriend and disconnect as many people as I need to.

If I give that power away, will we know what those creeps are doing? How will I know if they are infiltrating my government if I never see their faces, hear their voices, and can pick them out in a crowd? I had no idea what Breitbart was, my world does not consist of hate propaganda. But someone needs to monitor them, I need to know they are out there, and obviously people like me cannot afford to be caught unaware ever again. Removing them from my awareness is dangerous, because they could do the same with any group, for any reason.

Before we blame our social media for not protecting us from the big bad world out there, use your settings and protect yourself. Learn to mute a conversation, block someone you don’t want to look at or hear and report only if a crime is being committed. Threatening is not usually a crime, calling people names is not a crime and acting like an undesirable human being fit only to serve as an example of bigotry and  hatred is not a crime either. Actionable threats, that is something to report, stalking, reportable and confessions to other crimes is always good to highlight.

I feel sorry that a writer was hit by these people who waste the oxygen they breathe, but I don’t blame the social media platform. No, I blame the person who spreads the hate.