{"id":70,"date":"2016-12-19T16:47:11","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T16:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/?p=70"},"modified":"2017-01-23T11:35:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T11:35:32","slug":"social-media-spreading-hatred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/2016\/12\/19\/social-media-spreading-hatred\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media as a platform to spread hatred"},"content":{"rendered":"

A concurrent theme with web 2.0 is the ability to disseminate messages online. They may be personal, such as two friends emailing each other or using Facebook to interact. However, social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter can be utilised to spread messages of hatred. Discrimination and prejudice is prominent on social media, whether people use personal or fake accounts. A general term used to describe these individuals is \u2018troll\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘Don’t feed the troll’<\/h3>\n

\u2018Trolls\u2019 may spread ignorance in form of racism, sexism or homophobia. They can also distribute spam, which is less offensive to an individual but annoying nonetheless. Producing content with the intention to offend a minority group can have a profound effect on many people\u2019s lives, and is unfortunately starting to become accepted due to masquerading intolerance through \u2018stating an opinion\u2019.<\/p>\n

But what is a troll, really?<\/h3>\n

Individuals are becoming more personally offended online due to the exploitation of advance technology. An issue with social media is how people are able to create anonymous accounts. It\u2019s far easier to post comments, statements and opinions with the intent to offend by \u2018hiding behind a fake account\u2019. However, there is political uprising that is allowing individuals to exemplify bigotry online, which is then expected to be accepted because it\u2019s an \u2018opinion\u2019. Politics has an influence on behaviour, and political movements such as Donald Trump becoming the president-elect<\/a> of the USA and UKIP<\/a> gaining popularity within UK politics \u2013 prejudice is becoming a normality on social media.<\/p>\n

DOnald Trump winning the 2016 US Presedential Election has caused uproar within the gay community.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Social issue projected online<\/h3>\n

Homophobia is an ongoing issue within society, which has been translated online via web 2.0. It has become such a problem that cyber and homophobic bullying policies have been implemented in around 4,000 primary and senior schools across the UK<\/a>. This is important since an estimated number of 5.43 million young people have experienced some form of cyberbullying<\/a>, and a further 1.26 million are prone to receiving abuse online on a daily basis<\/a>. Though these figures are unacceptable, the widespread use of the internet (and specifically social media) potentially makes this quite an impossible matter to defeat.<\/p>\n

In fact, the number of cases may increase due to the parallels between conservative and liberal minds. What is considered bullying online? Many people are offended by other people\u2019s views in regard to politics and current affairs. Major corporate organisations such as the BBC have their own Facebook and Twitter pages. As expected, they are consistently updated throughout the day. Many people comment on such articles due to the significant number of people who follow the page due to the prevalence of BBC and its recognisability. Users are able to \u2018like\u2019 a comment they agree with, and debates usually occur due to difference of opinion in reaction to the article. Comments that are deemed inappropriate are deleted by modifiers, but what are the guidelines between opinions and hatred? Is Facebook causing us to become a narrow-minded society, or towards people have different views?<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook continues to be a place of debate, but also a tool for spreading hatred.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Celebrities using social media as a platform for hatred<\/h3>\n

Social media has grown to resemble a battleground, and those with contrary opinions face each other. News is an embedded feature on social media, so it is much easier to discuss topics through online communication. However, individuals have begun to use news topics as an agenda to express their belligerence. These individuals can be ordinary folk or well-known users with substantial followers. For example, professional footballer Andre Gray came under fire as a result of tweeting homophobic comments<\/a>. He used hashtags including \u2018#Burn\u2019 and \u2018#Die\u2019 in response to \u2018gays everywhere\u2019. He was subsequently suspended from playing four football matches because of public outcry online.<\/p>\n

Milo Yiannopoulos is an openly gay, right-wing political activist. He is well-known for using social media as a platform to express far-right opinions. He uses \u2018free speech\u2019 as a token to progress an alt-right ideology that opposes left-wing movement. Yiannopoulos himself has opposed a liberal and safeguarded crusade that appreciates LGBT rights, and encourages individuals to use words such as \u2018faggot\u2019 and \u2018queer\u2019<\/a> \u2013 citing \u2018homophobic\u2019 as meaningless term. Yiannopoulos has gained substantial support from other right-wing individuals, and was banned from Twitter during 2016 due to instigating spitefulness that resulted in a racially motivated attack on African American actress Leslie Jones<\/a> (also berating her ability to spell, and referring to her as \u2018dude). This became a political issue online in which supporters of Milo coined a hashtag \u2013\u2018#FreeMilo\u2019<\/a>– which became the top trend across the globe.<\/p>\n

A tweet that occurred as a result of politically-motivated attack, masqueraded as an ‘opinion’ through Jones’ work.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To conclude,<\/h4>\n

It is an issue that such hatred is ubiquitous on social media. It has permitted individuals to express vehement intolerance without worrying about repercussion within interpersonal contexts. People can attack without proof that they are the culprit, as with \u2018trolling\u2019 or fake accounts. Our perception of \u2018opinion\u2019\/\u2018free speech\u2019 and \u2018online bullying\u2019\/\u2019hatred\u2019 is widening due to the political activism that is now prevalent as a result of web 2.0. However, social media can also be used in positive means, which is why social media is important to every kind of person who has access to it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A concurrent theme with web 2.0 is the ability to disseminate messages online. They may be personal, such as two friends emailing each other or using Facebook to interact. However, social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter can be utilised to spread messages of hatred. Discrimination and prejudice is prominent on social media, whether […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":19,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,12,9,13,2,14,15,8,10,16,17,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/bradensmetherhemmacdonald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}