Twitter is looking for a Leader
Government censorship. Censorship is usually always a bad thing; however, we have to discuss the Internet and censorship. Government censorship is absolutely a terrible thing and before we get any further I want to make it clear, we cannot be a free society if the government censors our citizens. But this post is about Internet censorship and moreover, Twitter. Buzzfeed posted an article on the topic, which I encourage everyone to read. Twitter is in a curious quandary and we have to discuss censorship in the plainest terms. So it is obligatory that I state I do in fact believe in a free and open Internet. Now that, that is out of the way lets discuss how Twitter is a safe haven for neo-Nazi skin heads, for hate and bigotry, not to mention the spread of radical terrorist propaganda by ISIS, which Twitter takes down. Once it is taken down that is the end of it; they do not do anything more. Once the ISIS propaganda has been spread from one account to another to another, it becomes difficult to remove and one sees the point. One cannot remove all of the religious propaganda, but one can also show some leadership and create an actual policy that allows for this to be done.
Not to mention that this creates a double standard which Twitter is operating on considering that neo-Nazi propaganda is spread; however, unlike the ISIS accounts, which are promptly removed, the neo-Nazi propaganda remains. For example, Twitter allows for the Ku Klux Klan to have a Twitter account, the Aryan Brotherhood has an account, as do all of these other organization that spread hate and bigotry. These groups do the same harm as ISIS, but the difference is that Twitter removes propaganda by terrorists, unless they happen to be home grown terrorists. The site allows for known KKK grand wizard David Duke to continue to spread his message of hate and intolerance. When will someone at Twitter show some leadership?
I use Twitter every day and I think that it is truly one of the most remarkable pieces of technology in the world. However, at this time Twitter is looking for a leader; someone who will actually come up with a policy to take on the bigotry blowhards and those who are harming the people who use Twitter every day.
Several years ago when it would come to this topic of censoring on the Internet I would have been one of those people who would have stated you could not do anything. The Internet should not be censored; this would have been my stance when it comes to Internet policy. However, with the rise of global terror, and the rise in America’s fascination with a candidate hell bent on bringing America back to an era where George Wallace is able to see the light of day, is why the Internet must be censored to a degree. I am not advocating censoring everything that one writes and says on the Internet, but Twitter should and has a responsibility to stop the spread of racist propaganda. And at the end of the day what is ISIS doing, they are spreading religious bigotry, the same bigotry that West Baptist Boro Church members spread. When will Twitter draw the line? When will the CEO give a damn?
