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After the recent Hamas attack on Israel, the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is under investigation for hosting posts containing disinformation about the conflict. Despite X’s claims to have removed hundreds of posts related to Hamas, misleading content continues circulating on social media.
Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid argues that engaging in online “in-fighting” exacerbates tensions, promotes the spread of disinformation and hinders the healing process for those affected by the ongoing war.
But what do you say? You post support for Israel, it elicits anger in your friends who say, “What about the Palestinians?” You post support for citizens of Gaza, who didn’t ask to be under terrorist rule and are fleeing for their lives, who are dying in hospitals without electricity or water, and your words hurt your friends who say, “How could you not stand completely with Israel?” But you do. You stand with humans. You try to hold space for the pain of every mother you see weeping over a kidnapped child, every child left without their parents.
What I’m saying is that, in our social media-driven culture, where everyone has an opinion, everyone has an opinion about that opinion, it all seems to add up to just distraction. We’re fighting each other about semantics, about which words each of us chose to repost on a grid. This is awful. This is an emergency. Israel is hurting, Palestine is hurting. Fighting with each other over who’s hurting more and why and how, and hurling insults at each other online because someone said they were sad about a thing that you don’t think is as sad as the other thing — it’s toxic. But even worse, it’s not helpful.
Organizations to Support:
