The subject of this post is more about how social media has become more of a social judiciary, I was watching the newsroom the other day, they were mentioning the Boston bombings and how one person on reddit, put 2 and 2 together and made 5, but because he had shiny photos and what was perceived to be fact, there was a witch hunt for a prospective bomber named Sunil Tripathi who was never a subject to the FBI enquiry, who never showed signs of being a bomber apart from his last name and the fact he had been missing. It got to the extent where his sister would get horrific abuse on facebook and twitter, because one guy with a computer thought he knew who the bomber was.
When did we start believing faceless online profiles over highly trained professionals, the FBI at the time had to disclose vital information before they were ready just to keep Tripathi family safe, and then people of twitter still didn't believe what the FBI said.
It's the same with vaccinations! thousands of articles support vaccinations, yet some one on the internet said a vaccine gave their kids autism! There is no proof that this is true apart from a pushy parent saying "oh Oscar has autism now, it has to be down to the vaccinations", not the fact he lives in a difunctional family who spend more time trying to fight doctors who have years of experience, then giving little Oscar the attention he needs. Also Id much rather my kids have autism than fucking (sorry mum) polio! or any disease that will make them suffer a painful early death!
Britain First is another example of people blindly seeing stuff on the internet, and thinking yea that must be true. Text in front of a picture, has now become the criteria for fact. They post a picture of a muslim with a story saying something like "In Lincoln this muslim told some BRITISH kid that he must kiss her toes" or some bollocks like that! I will openly unfollow anyone on facebook who post Britain first comments.
Another thing that angers me about Britain first is that they and many of the Far right parties and organisations have stolen the Union Jack, it is now seen as a symbol of hate. Im proud to be British like i'm sure many are, I love the fact we are a tiny island and yet one of the biggest cultural influence in the world. Sherlock, Doctor Who, Coldplay, The Premier league, Royal Family, The Mini (concept, I know the modern one is german), Whisky, all globally known and yet we can't represent them with a Union Jack because Nick Griffen uses it in his sodding leaflets.
But that is not the point I'm trying to make, what I think is the problem with twitter, facebook, reddit etc is that it encourages rash decisions, yes it was instrumental in the Arab Spring, but I have met many academics that still question whether they were beneficial. Before you retweet something, or believe a tweet to be gospel. Just think there is more to a story than 140 Characters.
P.S I could have written alot more on this issue but I didn't wan't to bore you.
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