CENSORSHIP

Twitter Censors Opinions But Not Disinformation

I’m currently on a week-long suspension

I had to make a run to the grocery store last night. It was almost 11:00 pm and I’d hoped there would be fewer people there. I never go unless it’s off-peak hours.

Even when it’s late, I still move through the store as quickly as possible, as if I’m in a race to see how fast I can get in and out of there. I grabbed the handful of items I needed and got in the only open checkout lane. A minute or so after standing there, a guy came and stood in line behind me, a little too close, definitely not putting six feet of space between us.

I turned around and gave him a look as if to say, “You’re too close. Back up.”

He didn’t pick up on my cue. So I took a couple of steps forward.

He took a couple of steps forward.

I took one more step forward.

He took one more step forward.

Visibly annoyed, I turned around and said, “Hey man, will you please back up by a couple of steps? I’m trying to put more space between us and when I take a step forward, you take a step forward. Will you back up?”

To which he replied, condescendingly, while rolling his eyes, “Alright, alright, calm down.”

This pissed me off even more.

“No, see, I don’t need to calm down. I just asked you nicely. Politely. Okay? Back up!”

He grumbled and rolled his eyes again. I wanted to rip him a new asshole for being such a rude prick, but it was my turn at the register and what I wanted more was to just get the fuck out of that store.

We’ve all been trying to not catch Covid for more than 18 months now. People damn well know the rules. Wear a mask. Stay (at least) six feet apart. Neither of those things is difficult to remember or practice.

I’m tired of giving all the fucks, while stupid fucks give none whatsoever.

I consider myself to be a nice guy, but I don’t suffer fools gladly or tolerate bullshit well.

I’d even argue that I’m nice to a fault. I constantly go out of my way to be friendly, polite, and considerate. It’s how my parents raised me.

However, I was also raised to not tolerate bullies, ignorance, or injustice. I was raised to stand up for what’s right, and when necessary, stand up for myself or others. I was taught to treat others as I would want to be treated and that’s worked out pretty well for me for 47 years thus far.

Not everyone was taught the same lessons. Not everyone was raised by parents who gave a shit about how their kids turned out. I get that. I think it sucks. But I get it.

On Twitter, we see things that make us mad. Sometimes we fire off a tweet with an angry, visceral reaction. Often our anger is quite justifiable. After all, there’s so much to be outraged about these days.

I saw this tweet, after seeing several others just like it, and my blood really began to boil. Here it is embedded for your viewing displeasure.

I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to watch some guy being a colossal, raging asshole over kids wearing masks to protect themselves from the deadliest virus we’ve seen in a hundred years. That’s basically what it is. He threatens the school board members he’s addressing saying, “There’s a lot of good guys out there ready to do bad things soon!”

So, calling it the way I saw it, I tweeted the following reply:

“And he’ll be on a ventilator by this time next week.”

Was my tweet necessary? Nope, but I couldn’t help myself. Was it in any way positive or constructive? Absolutely not.

Was it accurate? Probably.

Was it hateful? I don’t think so, but I also don’t care. I refuse to respect someone who won’t show respect for others, and I’m fed up with seeing this attitude and behavior repeated, day after day, week after week.

There are two sides to this argument over masking and vaxxing — the right side and the wrong side. No in-betweens. The right side says to get vaxxed and wear a mask. The wrong side fights against both tooth and nail. There’s no reasoning with them. There’s no convincing them they’re wrong. But if that’s the hill they’re willing to die on, so be it.

People like this won’t listen until it’s them or their child in a hospital on a ventilator. Unfortunately, some people have to learn lessons the hard way.

I was too upset watching one video after another of similar behavior in similar situations. I needed to step away from the internet. All the crazy is wearing on my nerves. It’s hurting my heart. Mostly, it’s really pissing me off.

A couple of hours later, I received an email from Twitter:

Hi Chris Zappa,

Your account, @christophr has been locked for violating the Twitter Rules. Specifically for: Violating our rules against hateful conduct. You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.

Please note that repeated violations may lead to a permanent suspension of your account. Proceed to Twitter now to fix the issue with your account.

“Hateful conduct.”

If what I tweeted was hateful, forward my mail to hell.

What I’m really unhappy about is being censored for what I said. I didn’t threaten anyone. I didn’t wish for him to be on a ventilator. I didn’t indicate that I would somehow be responsible for putting him on a ventilator.

I made an opinionated statement based on statistical probability. Guys like this who fight against wearing a mask or getting a vaccine are the ones who end up in the hospital, taking up ICU beds, and being put on ventilators.

It’s a fact.

It’s pretty rich that I state my opinion about a guy openly threatening violence against school board administrators over making his kid wear a mask and I get suspended for that.

Every day I see disinformation on Twitter. Disinformation is getting people killed. Every day I see tweets inciting violence, calling for brutality, spewing fascism, racism, xenophobia. You know, actual hateful conduct. Those tweets don’t get removed. Those accounts don’t get suspended.

Twitter is generous with hall passes if you’re a politician or someone of notoriety. If you’re just some schmuck calling it like you see it, not so much.

My takeaway is that Twitter applies their rules very selectively and unevenly.

Spread disinformation that can get people killed, or push lies that results in the attempted overthrow of our government, and that’s just fine.

But angrily tweet about someone being an asshole and you’ll be shut down faster than you can say censorship.

What complete bullshit.