I found that the article titled "Defending race privilege on the Internet: how whiteness uses innocence discourse online" written by author Anastasia Kanjere to be an interesting and formal piece of work that encourages the concept of understanding how race and the idea of whiteness plays a distinct role in the world around us. One of the most important takeaways I had from this reading was that although the three different pieces of writing that were talked about we're all from different countries, regarding different kinds of topics surrounding race and whiteness (in television, in the feminist movement, and events targeted only for black and minority ethnic people) that they still all shared commonalities with one another - its expressed just how extremely common it is for people of color to have to deal with aspects of white supremacy and privilege. It is not only angering, but upsetting knowing that messages of hate and racist rhetoric are felt in intercultural communities all across the world. There is also an interesting relation between the concept of people feeling powerful enough to comment certain atrocities when there is anonymity versus how people most commonly comment or reflect on certain forums when a persons identity is not hidden behind a screen name.
A topic that stood out to me while I was reading this article in specific, relates back to just how crucial it is for there to be a foundation of identification on certain platforms or forums. Not only does anonymity create opportunities for destruction, but it lacks the availability for people to have repercussions. The idea of being anonymous reminded me of a show I just finished on Netflix called "The Watcher". This show is based off a true story, which is about a family being constantly berated by an anonymous person or persons in hopes to drive them out of their new home. The "watcher" that was sending these anonymous letters had the upper hand in the situation because the family had no idea who it was that could have been doing that to them - this relates back to the idea of people being able to randomly comment on different platforms without having to state who they are. It is a scary concept that in a lot of cases, we don't truly know the people around us or what they have the capability to say when there is a lack of publicly identifying oneself.
Kanjere, Anastasia. “Defending Race Privilege on the Internet: How Whiteness Uses Innocence Discourse Online.” Taylor & Francis, 2019, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1477972.
I think your point on identification on certain platforms is really important. I was thinking about Elon Musk buying Twitter, and the kind of speech, hate speech specifically, that has increased recently because users think Musk is going to give them a pass for it. It is so easy for people to say things online, especially without any sort of repercussions, because of the anonymity that some platforms allow. I think privacy on the internet is important, but when people hide their identities in order to bully and berate people, the ethical intent get muddied. I see this frequently with movies, mainly remakes, casting black characters in certain positions, and white people on these platforms feeling the need to express anger and disgust over these castings, which is really dumb.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you brought up the need for identification on social platforms, and how you used the show 'the watcher' as an example. I had also recently watched the show and could not get over the anonymity aspect of everything, and just how difficult anonymity can make accountability. I think a lot about burner accounts and how individuals consistently create them in order to refrain from taking responsibility for their words. I truly do not believe that people would post hateful things if they were required to take accountability for them.
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