Content warning: mentions of suicide, anti-Indian hate, racism and hate crimes.
Image: Via Glenn Carstens-Peters (Unsplash)
A common debate I hear nowadays is whether a tweet should ruin someone’s life. But I believe the argument isn’t in good faith. It places our thoughts on the person who does the action rather than the people affected by the actions.
Recently, a DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) engineer, Marko Elez, resigned after a tweet of his was brought to the White House’s attention. In September, he wrote, “Normalize Indian hate,” in response to many South Asian workers finding their places in Silicon Valley. He resigned, but soon word got out that he was to be rehired by Musk, who claimed that he should be forgiven for his actions and posted a poll on X so people could vote on the topic. 78% voted yes.
Vice President JD Vance is in agreement with Musk on this subject, stating, “I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life.” The odd thing about his word choice, however, is that Elez is not a child, but 25 years old. There’s also the fact that Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, is Indian, and their children are mixed race. Congressmen Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi called out Vance for this, but he put the blame on the congressmen for acting like “whiny children” for calling out racism and for being a part of “a culture that denies grace to people who make mistakes.”
When I was in middle and high school, I sat through many lessons and seminars about the power of digital footprints and to control what you put online. These lessons have stuck with me to the point I’m scared to even post a selfie with my middle finger up on my Instagram, even if I look very cute in the photo. This is because I know what I put online has the potential to be seen by future employers and people who look up to me. I think about what I will post before posting it because I know I could face consequences for my actions. As much as these consequences suck, they are put in place so people don’t get hurt.
Everyone makes mistakes. I make mistakes. I’ve posted fake news before, I’ve posted sources that weren’t trustworthy and I have gotten into arguments with illiterate people on X when I’m in that kind of mood. I faced the consequences of those mistakes, corrected myself and I have learned from them, though I still believe yelling at people over the internet can be satisfying. There is a difference between those mostly harmless mistakes and saying derogatory words about a group of people for everyone and their mother to see. But according to Musk and Vance, those are on the same level as accidentally cursing in front of a teacher.
Elez is a 25-year-old man who should be held accountable for the hateful rhetoric of his tweets. Even if the account wasn’t traced back to him at the time of hiring, he clearly wasn’t good at hiding it. And as an employee of the government, he should have expected it to be found by his employers with high-end technology. But the bigger question is, why is the government so insistent on defending someone who has expressed bigoted views towards a group of people? How does that exhibit character to them in any way, reminding them of messages of redemption and atonement despite never apologizing for any of his actions?
Whenever a different version of a similar story such as this appears in the news, people suddenly forget how what you say on the internet is there for everyone to see, and that what you say makes an impact. Remember the Tide Pod Challenge? Or how Trump popularized phrases such as “Drain the Swamp?” Those made an impact. But whenever someone says a racist thing on the internet, apparently they’re doing the equivalent of yelling at a brick wall with no one in the room or on the other side. No one sees it, especially not the people who are most affected by it!
It takes so much privilege to think that the internet exists in a vacuum. As a woman, I see how rhetoric spelled out online dehumanizes us and I see that language used every day as I walk down the halls or the street. And just as the r-word was starting its resurgence online, I would hear it more often in real life. As for the extremist content that is echoed online, we can see it echoed as hate crimes in real life. The internet acts as a vehicle for many manifestos for hate- crimes.
Not to mention, online speech is proven to not be “just harmless fun” when people’s mental illnesses worsen or commit suicide due to online bullying and hate speech. I think we all know that, considering this was a message echoed in almost every assembly pertaining to the internet I have seen in school. The people in our government should care about their citizens enough to know this, but they are ignoring our well-being for the sake of their own agenda. In a government that wants white men to be able to say whatever they want without consequences for the sake of “free speech,” they have to brush aside any and all harm so they can be proven right.
It is troubling that hate speech on the internet is now normal and harmless, and our leaders endorsing this are setting a poor moral example for the American people. If they want to protect the children, they are giving the many children who look up to them a horrible message, and many will be heartbroken that their idol spoke this way. Many will be pulled towards hatred, cheering on the Indian hate that Elez spoke of in his initial tweet. They will push their hatred onto people who do not deserve it and encourage hate crimes. People are going to get hurt. People will consider racism to be a minor issue instead of the monster it actually is, something we need to take a stand against.
Those who do not believe that anyone will be affected by hate speech on the internet are turning a blind eye to everything such speech stands for.
If you have been a victim of hate speech on the internet, you are not alone. If you see hate speech on the internet, please stand up to it and do not give the people perpetuating this a platform. We all have digital footprints, so yours might as well be positive.
Emily Rutz is a first-year English major. ER1034711@wcupa.edu.