Don’t make excuses for horrible behavior online
Just as troubling as (now former) Upper Township Committeeman Hobie Young posting vile and disgusting memes of vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Facebook were the few people who defended it.
They weren’t defending the misogynistic, sexist and repulsive memes on the basis of free speech rights, that even offensive speech is protected under our Constitution.
They were defending it on the MAD Policy – Mutual Assured Destruction – claiming that because they’ve seen things just as offensive attacking politicians they support, there is no bottom to what is justified in response.
No, it’s not justified.
The people who post this kind of content and their supporters have thrown their moral compasses out the window.
Thankfully, they are in the minority – a tiny, vocal minority, online trolls, mostly – but it points to the nature of a swath of Americans who no longer understand the bounds of decency in any form.
We are not helped by having a president who sets the worst example by tweeting out insults at all times of the day and night and saying offensive things that are rewarded with cheers at his rallies. But putting the blame on the president lets the rest of America – and the rest of us Americans – off too easy.
The political divisions in this nation have gone over the tipping point. Basic terms to describe political affiliations have been turned into epithets against one another. We are overwhelmed by bitter partisans who automatically hate and degrade anyone who is in the opposing political party.
Too many of us are getting too quick to judge an entire person’s character based on political choices alone.
That judgment is amplified by social media.
Brutal political caricatures, offensive rumors and character assassination have been with us since the time of the Founding Fathers, but with the advent of social media, Americans can bombard each other with the worst they have to offer.
Unlike 200 years ago when it required drawing a political cartoon, hand printing a few hundred copies and taking a horse to distribute it locally, it takes but a few seconds to spread the most vile comments or images to a massive audience.
And it doesn’t take any thought. That is Young’s downfall.
Had he given it just a hint of intelligent and rational consideration, perhaps he would not have shared the doctored images of the vice presidential candidate on his Facebook page. When he announced his resignation Monday after the outcry, Young sounded like he understood the offensiveness of what he had done, but that came only after first defending his actions.
That, too, is another problem. It is called doubling down. Politicians who are called out for doing something callous or offensive take pride in defending their actions, no matter how outrageous. Often they are given cover by the partisans who support them and use the excuse that someone, somewhere, said or did something more offensive, therefore what just happened is not that bad.
We, as a society, have to eliminate that excuse.
If you claim to be offended, the reaction should not be to act more offensively. It should be a collective response to stop the offenders.
This episode is a reminder to check yourself, not just before you post something offensive and wreck yourself, just as Young just did, but because if we all let ourselves give in to our worst impulses, it is a race to the lowest common denominator.