Your words matter.
Your actions matter.
That is reality.
Full text of SwiftOnSecurity’s tweets is as follows:
So, something weird happened a year and a half ago I’ve never talked about. It was a direct message from a white supremacist.
They linked me a tweet of theirs, and asked me to mock them. What I said it didn’t matter, just as long as I quote-tweeted their message.
Which is a pretty interesting tactic. They thought their meme was compelling enough and had enough latent support it would be a net-win.
They already had 10s of thousands of seeming legitimate followers. Ever since then, Ive been really hesitant to amplify others’ “bad tweets”
Is in no way stating “ignore them and they’ll go away” but in this case they actively tried to court me to help them spread their message.
There is a deep asymmetry in ideological quote-tweets of people with no reputation or shame or identity. They usually have nothing to lose.
It’s astonishing the kinds of behaviors you have to change as you scale-up in social visibility. You’re a weapon, no matter your intent.
Further thoughts on the other problem of quote-tweeting when you have a large audience. I think about this a lot.
Having a lot of followers on social media is a responsibility. In your hand is the power to recruit attackers without your fingerprints.
Source: https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/896794203182821377
As an artist, a writer, a blogger, anybody who speaks… you have a responsibility to those who look to you for information, you have a responsibility to those who respect you, you have a responsibility to society.
Life is not a game.
Just because aspects of life occur on the internet… it still is not a game.
The people who listen to you, the people who follow you, are not toys to be used for your benefit. As a writer or an artist you need to watch what you say and what you do.
When an Instagram fashion girl promotes a product that she was paid to promote and doesn’t mention that fact… she is not only lying to her audience, she is violating federal law as well as Instagram’s terms of service. You have a responsibility to not try to trick your audience.
When an alt-right nutter tries to get people he dislikes harassed, he is not only abusing the authority he holds over his audience he is being an immoral little prick. You have a responsibility to your audience to not behave in such a manner.
When a white supremacist tries to further their ideology by purposely picking fights with famous individuals… well, then they’re just the guy trying to provoke SwiftOnSecurity. You again have a responsibility. In this case… you have a responsibility to not engage.
My point is… as people become more entwined into society because of their work… new responsibilities are forced upon them.
You need to recognize that fact.