Social Media

For a few years, social media has been criticized for fomenting and legitimizing hate speech among in virtual communities where both extremists and an alarming number of “regular folks” can share their views and attract new converts to their cause.

Some believe that the negative aspects of social media far outweigh the benefits to society and that technology has unwittingly helped spread hatred and xenophobia.

After observing social media for the past few weeks, I don’t believe that this is necessarily true.

Since the vicious Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th, I have seen an outpouring of sentiment on social media supporting Israel and the Jewish people. These comments or tweets have underscored global concern for rising tides of antisemitism. For every antisemitic tweet, I have seen pro-Jewish sentiments expressed from a variety of corners of the globe.

This outpouring of concern is heartening and shows that virtual communities can also be a place for good. 

Ninety years ago, few spoke out against antisemitism as fascism and communism reared their ugly heads and the persecution of Jews took on a tragic dimension. Many political leaders and as such contributed to the Holocaust through their silence.

Those who abhorred what was happening did not speak out due to their fear that they were alone in their opinions and that they would suffer the same fate as those they sought to protect.

The same goes for other persecuted communities.

Fifty years ago, homosexuality was a criminal activity in most places.

Today, gay pride parades are commonplace and governments that discriminate against the LGBTQ community are being called into question. 

Tragically, some governments still have lengthy jail sentences or even death for practitioners. Others, some state governments in the U.S., continue to pass anti-gay legislation. But there is today a strong global community of gays and those concerned with human rights who continue to bring this and other issues onto the international agenda.

The global community has the strength in numbers to bring pressure to bear on their governments to engage in policies to reduce and eventually eliminate these reactions.

Again, the fact that those who were once solitary individuals can come together in massive global virtual communities and get their messages out with the speed of light is good for us all.

Social media allows us to learn about any topic of interest. While care must be taken to fact check, this enhances the ability of the individual to seek allies, establish communities, and exchange advice and experiences. 

Social media provides the disenfranchised with an opportunity to engage with others whose silence once limited their ability to discuss and convince, seek out kindred spirits, and create a synergy where once quiet frustration was their lot in life.

Technology, like money, has no morality.

Algorithms, however, are being used to create wealth for those who traffic in hate speech on-line. 

But the moral stance of social media depends on the use to which people apply it.

It is in its application that technology finds its moral compass.

The Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter, and the “Me Too” movement are but a few examples of the positive impact of technology in the search for social justice. 

That sometimes these groups have gone too far is not the fault of social media per se; only of the negative spin pursued by some to either denigrate these movements or enhance their own personal or political agendas.

There is an old saying that the only thing evil needs to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

Today we all have the tools to do good and fight evil and know the satisfaction of triumphing over those who would destroy us morally or physically.

Let’s be strategic in our employment of social media and use it wisely, for the sake of current and future generations.

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Keep reading: The Left and Antisemitism

Edición: Fernando Sierra