Read on Twitter
We really need to talk about the abuse, harassment ,and violent threats that political commentators face.
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First of all, I want to be clear that I’m not trying to make myself a victim:
I understand that people of color, women, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community face this everyday, and likely much worse attacks than I receive...
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I understand that people of color, women, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community face this everyday, and likely much worse attacks than I receive...
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...but that doesn’t minimize the very real fear and insecurity that I, and others like me, have to live with.
I started commenting on politics in 2017, shortly after Trump was inaugurated. For about two years, my account was rather small, with less than 1,000 followers.
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I started commenting on politics in 2017, shortly after Trump was inaugurated. For about two years, my account was rather small, with less than 1,000 followers.
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In 2019, I tweeted a video of a racist man harassing a woman my mom knew.
This was the first time anything I tweeted went viral, received press coverage, or, sadly, made me face the wave of abuse that comes from attention.
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This was the first time anything I tweeted went viral, received press coverage, or, sadly, made me face the wave of abuse that comes from attention.
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The replies to this video were filled with vile racist comments directed both to me and to the woman in the video.
Most of them are what you’d expect, “go back to your country,” “if you don’t like it why are you here,” etc., but alongside them came a tsunami of threats.
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Most of them are what you’d expect, “go back to your country,” “if you don’t like it why are you here,” etc., but alongside them came a tsunami of threats.
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My DMs were full of random people describing horrible things they were gonna do to me, for the simple act of exposing a racist.
I wish this was the only time it happened, but it was only the beginning.
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I wish this was the only time it happened, but it was only the beginning.
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My account began growing shortly after this video, and along with the amazing new people supporting my endeavors, also came more and more attacks.
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In 2018, when I was 16, I tweeted against a PragerU advertisement. They RTed my reply, knowing full well what their supporters would do.
Once again, my DMs were filled with vile threats of violence against my life, pictures of guns, and racist comments.
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Once again, my DMs were filled with vile threats of violence against my life, pictures of guns, and racist comments.
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This has only gotten worse recently.
People have abused the contact form in my website to spam my inbox with disgusting comments and threats.
Every day, I deal with people telling me to “go back to Mexico” or to “blow my brains.”
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People have abused the contact form in my website to spam my inbox with disgusting comments and threats.
Every day, I deal with people telling me to “go back to Mexico” or to “blow my brains.”
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I’ve never shied away from policy debates, and I’m happy to discuss my points of view in a respectful manner...
But I cannot stand for the barrage of abuse that comes for the simple act of voicing my opinion.
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But I cannot stand for the barrage of abuse that comes for the simple act of voicing my opinion.
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Just in the past few days, I’ve had people claim to have reported me to ICE and file a report with the FBI for foreign election interference.
Obviously, nothing will come out of it, I’m a legal permanent resident, but that doesn’t seem to make these people hesitate.
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Obviously, nothing will come out of it, I’m a legal permanent resident, but that doesn’t seem to make these people hesitate.
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Neither does that stop the self-proclaimed “hunters” who are “protecting America” from “illegal aliens.”
They claim to support legal migration, yet claim they’ll kill me for being a legal migrant, ironic.
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They claim to support legal migration, yet claim they’ll kill me for being a legal migrant, ironic.
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Again, I’m not trying to make myself a victim. I could make them stop by removing myself from the public forum that is Twitter.
Plus, I’ve mostly grown numb to all but a select few of these insults, attacks, and threats.
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Plus, I’ve mostly grown numb to all but a select few of these insults, attacks, and threats.
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However, it is still not okay.
It is not okay that immigrants are expected to sit tight and shut up about politics.
It is not okay that young people are expected to sit tight and shut up about politics.
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It is not okay that immigrants are expected to sit tight and shut up about politics.
It is not okay that young people are expected to sit tight and shut up about politics.
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It is even less okay that people try to use my background to diminish the very real work that @VotersTomorrow is doing to make sure that the next generation of Americans is educated and ready to participate in politics.
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Republican leaders and influencers are aware of what their base does. In fact, many of them encourage violence against their opponents.
For these people, holding a different opinion than them should carry a death sentence. This is not okay.
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For these people, holding a different opinion than them should carry a death sentence. This is not okay.
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It is well past time for action to be taken among the worse actors both on and off this website, and it is well past time for them to be held accountable in their actions.
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Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a straight, white-passing, male atheist.
Can you imagine what this would be if I was a woman? Or brown? Or gay? Or a Muslim or Jew?
Political disagreement should be encouraged, not attacked.
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Can you imagine what this would be if I was a woman? Or brown? Or gay? Or a Muslim or Jew?
Political disagreement should be encouraged, not attacked.
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I don’t really have a call to action to end this thread. I mostly needed to rant.
I just hope that the people who command these online armies see this and demand better from their supporters. It’s time.
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I just hope that the people who command these online armies see this and demand better from their supporters. It’s time.
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Addendum:
The comments listed here are not nearly the worst I receive. I decided not to share those in order to not give power to the authors. Same reason I am not including screenshots.
The comments listed here are not nearly the worst I receive. I decided not to share those in order to not give power to the authors. Same reason I am not including screenshots.
