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THE SOCIAL MEDIA RIFT

Thoughts on Contemporary Activism & Hate Speech

In an era where art and the artist are inextricably linked it is important to understand who you support and why. In the 21st century where nothing is private and social media spreads information as well as rumors like wildfire. So, in an era where cancel culture is at it’s peak it is important to understand what is going and why. 

For a long time the population has had a voice. Not all of the population, but the majority of Americans have been able to vote and many have been able to educate themselves. However, there were many people that did not have a voice and many still do not. Many do not have the same opportunities or even an opportunity to succeed at all. Voting is only a small voice to have in a nation of over 300 million people. And many groups of people are oppressed on a number of factors including skin color, gender, and differed interests. 

With all of this said, there are tools in place now to give people a louder voice.The rise of social media has given way to both genius and idiotic thoughts. People have become more interconnected and more aware of issues. This  mixture of factors has caused whatever divisions we had to become even deeper. This chasm has not allowed for any useful dialogue and individuals search for like-minded people who echo their beliefs. This causes more people to just become, if anything, more radical. The echo chambers are on social media are likely the loudest echo chambers in the world.

 Everybody has an opinion and they only share opinions of people that agree with their world view. This is understandable behavior. However, not every thought has to be shared and somewhere along the way people have seemed to lose that sense of waiting until you have something worth sharing. People will regurgitate the same things that they have heard. Many social media users are aware that the platforms have made it so they can share more and more things that other people have said. However, they do not check the sources and many people accept social media posts as fact. Because now everyone has been given a voice on social media everyone will share their ideas. This is great for so many reasons, but how many of the ideas are original? How much of the statements being made are factual?  Was any of it researched? One would anticipate that the answer is “probably not”. There is also very little filter in between the brains of social media users and what they say and do on social media.This combination allows for so much evil.

Everyone should be allowed to share their thoughts. However many people are just sharing the first thought that comes into their head. What happens when hateful and evil people are given the same platform?

These days people can see what type of person you are on social media. They can learn a bit about your thoughts, what you think is worth sharing, and what you consider valuable. When people learn that the businesses and celebrities that they support, tend to like and share racist or homophobic content, they may feel obligated to use their voice along with a thousand other users to either silence or attack the person in question. This seems to be the natural response of social media users. This habit has spawned for a couple reasons.

Free speech is a right. Hate speech is not. However, speech can infringe on someone else’s rights. For example, if you want to share thoughts that can revolutionize the way people think you should do it. However, if you want to share thoughts that start a revolution of hatred and/or endangers the lives of people who have been oppressed then you must understand that you do not have that right. We have free speech but we are also responsible for the words and actions that come out of our mouth. So, when a user states or shares a thought they should be ready for the consequences that come along with it. Whether or not they are on social media to see themselves get dragged for their statements and actions, other people are… and whether its small or big, social media has given everybody a voice.