Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Well Informed: Race Baiting
By simply searching "race baiting" on twitter, several tweets pop up involving opinions, accusations, and examples of the term. Recent tweets tend to be centered around Trump and Hillary, both of which are being targeted for "race baiting" comments and/or actions.
Race baiting is definitely a seriously issue, and although social media provides an outlet for discussion, it can sometimes be misleading information. In fact social media can fuel the fire and create more hate and a bigger divide. For example, the posting of a racist meme only ignites further arguments and fury from both sides. The media is responsible for the overwhelming response regarding police brutality and racism. Whether the information has been manipulated on social media or not, the public will react according to what they believe to be true. These repetitive and controversial issues are causing social media to become more sensitive and aggressive. If people would take the time to well inform themselves before voicing their opinion so publicly, social media could possibly transform these negative interactions into a respectful exchange of ideas.
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Great post, I agree with you that social media can fuel the fire to create a divide. Doing our own research on trusted sites rather than trust a dumb meme on Facebook will greater our knowledge on the subject and eliminate quick judgement.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that social media can further ignite the issues. I also think that people feel far more comfortable sharing memes, posts or even commenting to things on social media that they probably wouldn't do or say otherwise. I feel that there is unspoken pressure from peers to "get on the bandwagon" when it comes to the controversial issues going on in social media.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that social media can further ignite the issues. I also think that people feel far more comfortable sharing memes, posts or even commenting to things on social media that they probably wouldn't do or say otherwise. I feel that there is unspoken pressure from peers to "get on the bandwagon" when it comes to the controversial issues going on in social media.
ReplyDeleteJenny,
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate that most of the news we see comes from unreliable sources. Although a lot of the facts can be true sometimes, everything on social media is skewed someway or another. Nothing is posted without the intention of setting the agenda for viewers in hopes that they will fall into the same way of thinking as the publisher. The thing is though, I'm not sure how you get out of that as a whole. The only thing we can really do is individually take the time needed to look into both sides of an issue as best we can, and not develop a bias but keep an open mind. Even then, we still aren't going to get all the correct facts, but it can certainly help. And if more people in the world start doing this, it might just make a bit of a change in social media and the way news is broadcasted.