Hate-filled communities are far from hard to find online. There are big ones that are well known and get tens of thousands of views each month and small ones with only a handful of posters. They’re mostly discussion boards with sections for everything from Holocaust denial to dating advice. To be fair they probably need the dating advice; “Are you as sick of race mixing as I am,” doesn’t get those right swipes like it used to.
There’s going to be those types of websites and discussions going on no matter what, but now it has gotten out into more mainstream outlets like Twitter and Reddit. The top tweets and posts are usually not overtly racist or sexist or anti-semitic, but the common thread of hate that runs through it all is plain to see. If an article is posted about a crime committed by a muslim immigrant, ostensibly a defense of the president’s travel ban, the highest comments might seem reasonable or fair. Scroll down a little though and there is a litany of “F–k Islam” and calling anyone who might dissent a cuck. They are not thoughtful ideas with logically sound opinions; they are trash comments, filled with vitriol and veiled behind a news report.
Posters and commenters will chime in that the reason they say such deplorable things is to get a reaction. They want to rile up the internet, get their message out, and they want to see people that disagree with them squirm and explode with equal hate right back. They say they’re trolling and the country has fallen for it. I don’t doubt that that is why some of them do it. It’s probably funny for them to stir the pot and see random people on the internet get so angry. But what that does to the people that aren’t trolling, the ones that truly believe the things that come out at the bottom of the comments section, is give them a platform to work off of. The heinous ideas and lies that they put out are no longer relegated to a corner of the internet, it’s on users’s front page or twitter feed or timeline. It legitimizes these loathsome ideas because they’re tacked onto something that gets thousands of votes and favorites and shares.
It is not an issue of free speech being restricted if Twitter removes someone who attracts this kind of thing. These posters can say whatever they want to on any platform that will allow them to stick around. American’s can spew hatred loud and proud at each other over the internet and on the airwaves, but that doesn’t mean the people who see it for what it is have to listen. It is disheartening to see all this creeping into the mainstream, but at the same time there are far more people condemning it than there are supporters. We as media-literate internet users need to be aware that hate exists right in front of us. We need to be able to identify it and call it out before it ropes anyone else in just for the fun of trolling. They can say whatever they want to online, let’s make sure it doesn’t leave their echo chamber.
Mason Estevez is a junior majoring in economics and journalism. His column runs biweekly.
