The real people at war on social media

The Civil War that is beginning to play out in our streets has been raging for years on our social media platforms.

We’ve all seen it — the ugly comments people post celebrating violence and hate, racism, misogyny, antisemitism and more against those who have opposite political beliefs. I sometimes find it hard to believe that people are capable of spewing such vitriol, but they have been well trained by powerful manipulators who have followed the divide-and-conquer playbook for years. Despite all that most Americans have in common, those so-called leaders have succeeded — our country is thoroughly divided and the rich and powerful have complete control as a result.

Maybe I have too much time on my hands, but I find myself reading the comments on the news posts on social media and clicking on the bios and Facebook pages of these people to try to figure out if they are human.

You can sometimes tell if they are just bots generated or paid for by Putin’s oligarchs, Musk or some other rich guy bent on controlling us. Do the accounts look newly created or stolen from someone who hasn’t posted in years, with just a few generic pics and no posts? Or is every post some political screed? Those are the ones I write off as bots.

But they’re not all like that. Which brings me to the guy who commented on a Facebook news post the other day about another young man who was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet, likely losing his vision permanently in that eye. Most of the comments mocked the victim, openly laughed at him, and said he deserved it for throwing bricks at police during a protest

There was no evidence he threw anything, but that didn’t seem to matter. He was guilty because he was there. Period.

A lot of the accounts looked like bots. But then I randomly clicked on a young man who lives in Unionville, NC. His social media feed was filled with pictures of his wife and young son. He seemed happy in his life and job, touting the company he worked for on Facebook. He even mentioned working with some folks in NASCAR. Hey, I was a sportswriter for years and used to work with people in NASCAR, too. Maybe we walked past each other in a Cup garage once upon a time. Who knows?

Yep, he was human.

And yet he took the time out of his seemingly happy life to post on this news story about a guy maimed for life. “Go protest again 🤣” he wrote.

It wasn’t the ugliest comment I read. But it still struck me. He seemed like a genuinely nice young man, who nevertheless took joy in mocking a protester who was hurt by a rubber bullet. Did he mean it? Who knows. Sometimes I post junk I regret.

But his post makes me realize I’m not really afraid of the bots. Guys like him? They scare the crap out of me.

A guy who posts pictures of himself on his Facebook feed proudly exercising his Second Amendment right to own a long gun probably thinks I deserve to be maimed or killed merely for exercising my First Amendment right to free speech and protest. I imagine he would post a laughing emoji if I were ever shot.

I fear for his little boy. I fear he is going to be taught to hate just like his daddy.

Art by freepik

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