Chipman: Facebook A Haven For Post-Election Hatred

By Stuart Chipman

As much as anyone, I looked forward to the end of the presidential election, which for the last several months has dominated conversation, media coverage, and lawns across the United States. I know many people felt this way; I was even asked the content of this column address something besides the election. I applauded this request, and had every intention of honoring it, but in the wake of Tuesday’s events, I would consider myself irresponsible if I ignored one particular development.

Due to unwritten cultural normative, there are many things that cannot be done in face-to-face social interaction without immediate consequences: making lewd passes, being overtly rude, or standing in different poses clearly designed to attract mates (very few stand and flex the muscles on the street corner or lean down to flaunt their cleavage to every by-passer). However, Facebook has offered a world where all these things can be done with very little societal repercussion.  In the last six days, and for the last several months, Facebook has been a venue for overtly hateful, racist, sexist, and nonsensical people to gather and exchange ideas – an exchange that would be very difficult without the safe haven of the Internet.

It has taken an embarrassingly long time for the popular opinion in the United States to create norms that have rid us of prolific hate. The women’s and civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s have brought American culture much closer to one in which all peoples may walk around without being – or the fear of being – degraded or attacked for their differences. People who engage in such brutality are most often chastised by society. I fear Facebook is contributing to an effort to preserve that hatred and carry it into the future. We must ask, what has provided this old hate with new life?

Since I was in seventh grade, it has been extremely difficult to be proud of my country. For a year following the September 11th attacks, sympathy and affection united the country, not just within its borders, but with the entire world. For the tragedy and suffering on that day, there were sentiments around the globe remarking that “we are all Americans today.” 

Before long, that sympathy and affection had turned into fear and hatred. The culprit responsible for this transformation: Politics. The vulnerability that Americans felt was manipulated by politicians to pursue political agendas and win elections. We were showered with images and slogans telling us to dread “terrorists” and beware “weapons of mass destruction.” A color-coded danger alert was regularly updated to remind us we were not safe.Dissent, criticism of these tactics and methodologies was purged by the dangerous finger of accusation. The United States began to resemble the bleak world of Orwell’s 1984. Fear embedded itself in our daily life, dominating the thoughts and minds of Americans. In his essay “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell argues, “to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration.”

The outcome of last week’s landslide election is a pronounced cry that Americans are tired of being afraid, and for the first time in years, are thinking clearly. The long run of global disproval of U.S. behavior ended last week as the entire world celebrated the political regeneration of the United States; the world’s most powerful country would stop behaving like a wounded dog, trampling and biting its allies and enemies alike. Kenya declared the world’s faith in the American people, and mine, was rejuvenated. 

But alas, Facebook is again that place where people may commit the socially unacceptable. I applaud John McCain for not employing fear in his campaign, but he did not have to – many of his supporters did this for him in the numerous Facebook groups dedicated to fear and hatred: “Stop Barack ‘Hussein’ Obama.” “Don’t blame the future on me, I voted McCain.” “If you’ve read Left Behind, then you know Obama is the anti-Christ.” Some titles went too far for Facebook standards, and were disbanded. There was one among them whose name I don’t remember verbatim, but the essence of it was, “Don’t worry, he’ll be shot soon anyway.”

The discouragement I feel when I see this disgusting inhumanity is remedied in part by the response that has been mounted in the formation of groups such as “One Million Christians Praying for President Obama,” but not by the less tactful attempts, such as “If you don’t support our president, feel free to jump off a cliff.” If the social movements of history have shown us anything, it is that hatred cannot be met with hatred to end hatred.  The vulgarity that has found a safe haven on Facebook is a backwards step for our culture. It must be exposed and those responsible held accountable, but do so in a way that does not compromise your own moral standards.