Don't unfriend and block those whose views you don't like – you're only spreading hate
We live in strange times. A time when discrimination has become fashionable. Bigotry, and even expressions of hate in the vilest of forms, are accepted as legitimate ways of expressing displeasure.
As opposed to simpler days when politeness and decency were virtues worth bragging about, in today's world of social media, the art of mocking, trolling, and eventually shutting others down with the brute force of your vitriol, is now considered to be the true hallmark of strength.
With light-hearted banter and sarcasm left behind, condescension has become the weapon of choice for the new-age social media warrior. However, what does one do when tasteless memes, wit-less trolling, and even hurtful, bordering on aggressive, comments fail to win you the battle?
You block!
Why block
Unlike real-world situations where we are more likely to bite the bullet and politely sit through an argument, social media platforms give us the power to play God, and at the click of a button, mute the voice of those whose views we deem unworthy of our time and attention.
The very nature of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook provides its users with a guilt-free pass at initiating conversations with tweets and status updates – but then also abruptly end them if they don't like the direction the conversation is veering into.
And understandably so.
As opposed to having a conversation with someone in real life, where we have to witness the negative reactions of our hurtful words, in the online sphere, you don't have to deal with such moral dilemmas.
The absence of a tether to flesh and bones reality, the lack of physical cues to show how we are affecting another human being, leads to a lack of empathy that further leads to more confrontational behaviour – and when things get out of hand, helps us shrug off differing opinions by blocking these people.
Wrong to block
Nobody is denying that at times blocking certain people on social media is more of a matter of necessity than choice. But it's the latter when we need to be more mindful of our actions. In real life, we come across people that we don't like, or whose opinions we may not be so comfortable with. People who bombard us with arguments that our rational minds find ludicrous and even offensive.
However, in situations such as these, we don't resort to filing for restraining orders against them.
Nor do we respond with snarky, hurtful remarks or throw a tantrum and start ignoring them because we do not agree with their point of view – behaviour that some in the real world would even consider immature.
What we do is, we politely deal with it. But, on social media, it's all about pulling the trigger at the slightest of provocations. And it is this impulse that should be avoided.
Hence, the decision to block and unfriend people should be used as the last resort. Only those who you feel threatened by should be blocked, unfriended or ignored. Not the ones you feel ideologically opposed to, or even those who you think are populating your social media feeds with ideas that you deem objectionable.
And for those using these tools of blocking and ignoring as a means to negate the negativity around, it will be prudent to understand that social media is as much about listening to others as it is about airing what's on your mind.
Contrary to what most of us like to believe, it is about arguments and conversations, and not just posting rants.
However, if you still choose to block the unwanted "noise", know that you do so at the risk of pushing yourself inside an echo chamber – one that in time could breed the most virulent of ideas.
Blocking breeds hate
It's also important to understand that blocking and ignoring people is also a form of hate.
Though not as vicious as taking somebody's right to speak, but by blocking them, you are essentially stripping them of their right to be heard. To make a point and defend themselves. As such, ignoring someone online is akin to attacking a person's dignity – a move that different people will react to differently.
In the world of social media where most of us are obsessed with maintaining our image, the decision to leave all politeness and decency behind and straightaway block, unfriend or even ignore people for their views leaves the door open for them to not only become bitter, but turn that bitterness into hate that can manifest itself in the worst of ways.
Then we should also consider how our own actions on social media change us bit by bit. By bringing down the walls of decency and politeness online, we risk exposing ourselves to negativity in real life. By practising the exclusion of people and their opinions on social media, we risk normalising the practice to such an extent that such behaviour eventually becomes a part of our day-to-day lives.
Further, by being unapologetically brash about refusing to interact with the "other" on social media, we also unknowingly risk propagating the idea that it is socially acceptable for people to even discriminate on the basis of caste, sex and religion.
An example of which is the recent case of the latest darling of the right-wing bigot mob, Pooja, who shot to fame after she saw it fit to cross all lines of politeness and decency and reduce the existence of an Airtel employee, Shoaib, simply down to the religion that he was born into. One she didn't like.