IS YOUR TWEET RACIST?

TWEET OR TO NOT TWEET

Online conversations are riddled with pitfalls because navigating provocative subjects one tweet at a time invariably brings up very strong views and misconceptions. I have blogged about some controversial topics in the past, notably this one, which I received some blowback.  I am afraid we are faced with a conundrum, a difficult choice of balancing free speech and political correctness. We have become so intolerant of differing views and we are quick to censure anyone based on a single tweet.  It is like we have lost the art of having a conversation and debating an issue.  We are becoming so polarized and quick to make judgements without pause.  How much can you honestly get from a single tweet, anyway? 

I am going to  contemplate  two recent controversial tweets because it is a subject that interest me.     

Holy Angels property, Fort Chipewyan, Alta

First, you may have heard about Sen. Beyak’s tweet on residential schools and the social media comments in response to her subsequent tweets. Full disclosure, I am Dene from Northern Alberta and spent years at Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. I have blogged about my  experience here. Although not a popular position and one that I deliberated on before writing that my experience at Holy Angeles was not a bad one. I was worried that I would get hate tweets for even saying anything positive about my experience. But more importantly I didn’t want what I said to mean that the tragic and atrocious treatment didn’t occur. I want to make clear, my personal experience doesn't in any way contradict the horrific experiences of thousands of other accounts.

That said, I did take exception to Sen. Beyak’s tweet because in this climate of reconciliation I felt an extra burden is placed on a public servant to understand more profoundly the issues as they relate to indigenous people. Had she reflected on what she was going to tweet, she might have understood how her tweet could be offensive to some and maybe she would think twice before tweeting on a subject she does not fully understand.  She was consequently removed from the Conservative Caucus because she refuse to see her error.

Secondly, a tweet from Rick Mehta began circulating. The National Post interviewed him on January 15, 2018.

“I fear that if I say something, I’ll be labelled as a racist,” Mehta said in an interview Monday, referring to the Indigenous residential school system in Canada. “If you dare question the orthodoxy, you’re automatically a racist and labelled a colonialist who somehow endorses what happen in the past.”

In my opinion, this simple quote is a disturbing sign of the times because he clearly felt the need to clarify his view.  However, judging by a petition that was started to remove him from his position at University of Acadia, my guess, is that his subsequent tweets only enflamed the issue further.

Once a twitter argument gets started there is a no winning, trolls come out, and it explodes into heated diatribe.    By that I mean since the eruption of social media people have an outlet to express their every whim and thought. And with this deluge of information we have become selective in what we read and more critical of what does not resonate with our own sensibilities. The social media platform is ideal for this because it is easier to read each tweet as faceless. Sadly, it has become common to read strongly worded comments that include violence against a person just based on thier tweet.
  

In particular, indigenous controversial issues always appears to invoke a more spirited emotional response. Comments on controversial indigenous stories tend to be harsh. Are some of these comments racist? it sure appears to be.  However, to be sure, some are taken to be racist even if they are not intended as such.  Indeed, miscommunication occurs often and easily online.

The more important question for me, becomes shouldn’t we have the right to voice an opinion separated from our professional opinion like Rick Mehta’s tweets.  It is obvious that he was tweeting from his personal profile and not under that of his university.  Is he not allowed free speech without risking his job? Are any of us?

Simply put, the issue of free speech is becoming an intricate and difficult problem in this environment of intolerance. I believe our bias continues to shut each other down. If continued, we are courting a disastrous outcome to our individual right to free speech and it will happen gradually.  We should be able to be tolerant of others point of view no matter how abhorrent it is to our own beliefs.

In an extreme situation, in the 1979 case of Stokie, a march that tested the intolerance of religious and freedom of speech in a historical legal battle ensued.  A small group of neo-Nazis (National Socialist Party of America) challenged in court for the right to march in a predominately Jewish community wearing swastikas.  The community, many of them former concentration camp members argued that it was like being victimized again.

 “The Supreme Court rejected that argument, ruling that display of the swastika is a symbolic form of free speech entitled to First Amendment protections and determined that the swastika itself did not constitute "fighting words."^[10] Its ruling allowed the National Socialist Party of America to march.” Wikipedia

At the end of the day, the march never took place.   Interestingly, a Jewish lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union had represented the neo-Nazis in court, seeing their rights of free speech as more important than suppressing the hateful content of that speech.

Similarly, the white supremacist marchers in Charlottesville last year by the alt right, as disgusting as their message was, were able to demonstrate because of their constitutional right to freedom of expression. We might not like it but we can’t pick and choose who gets to exercise their freedom of expression.

In our world of social media we have tools to make free speech easy – maybe too easy -- but we are losing what must go along with free speech, namely the ability to express nuanced positions in an environment where respectful consideration and response can be expected.

In our diverse and complicated society, we should be becoming more tolerant not less tolerant of each other. Reconciliation.  What does that mean?   As a first nation person, what reconciliation means to me, is the intent to reconcile what was done in the past by educating ourselves on indigenous history. It means creating a future for first nations that is not based on guilt or shame.  Sen. Beyak’s tweets is the complete opposite of reconciliation. At some point the tweets became so contentious she lost all credibility.   We have to stop tweeting "fighting words” because these fighting words come off as racist more times than not.

Another point is that someone with controversial or hateful views will only become more hardened in their position if the only response to those views is suppression or emotional invective.  We can’t hope to change people’s minds on Twitter. It is better to leave the conversation.

Finally, true reconciliation cannot happen in absence of complete truths. Which means acknowledging truths no matter how uncomfortable it is. On this point, I agree with professor Mehta as quoted in the National Post;

“He believes former residential school attendees that claim the schools did good in some cases should be heard as well, as part of the overall conversation…”

Here too, I caution you to guard against going too far to the other side as to distort history. 

"Every story has three sides, yours, mine, and the facts." R. Fumoleau, OMI

The treatment of Residential school students in Canada differed from province to province and from decade to decade. However, there is plenty of evidence that residential school did far greater harm than good. Perspective is important (My friend's account.) There are many, many, more similar accounts! In order for true RECONCILIATION Canada needs to accept their role in our history and to accept that these horrific stories from students as truths instead of trying to minimize these accounts because of the humanity shown to some.

Down the Rabbit Hole we Go!

How many readers administer group pages?  Are you responsible for what your readers do with that information?  I venture to say you are probably not because you have not mastered the art of manipulation and mind control like I apparently have.  More over, what does that say about the people in my group? While I don't mind being given omnipotent and mind controlling powers as a lark, but it mystifies me to think an otherwise rational adult is actually serious when they say I am responsible for the actions of people who subscribe to my facebook group page.  Really, I have that much control over earthlings? 

Let me try to explain how this happened. I was recently added to group chat on messenger, my initial thought was how nice of someone to include me.   Ordinarily, I enjoy participating in group chats, I get to contribute, explore ideas and perhaps really make a difference in the conversation. However, I only had to read a couple of lines to realize that this was not a normal productive group chat.  It was apparent that whoever set up this group chat was not considering constructive participation from the people they added to this chat. But rather he/ she was looking for support for a personal disagreement between two people. I would even  go so far as to say it was a heated argument that was quickly spiraling out of control.  The person who started the chat wanted witnesses not a calming voice. In the five seconds it took me to assess the conversation I decided to leave the chat. 

I immediately received a personal message from the person that started the group who said, "thanks for the support". Good to know you were a supporter of transparency and "open dialogue" I am ashamed to call you two my family.  Then it went even further to say, I obviously want  your input but you don’t care to deal with conflict you indirectly a part of.   While I tried to reason with this person, and did my best to explain that I have no control over people’s actions, related to me or not. People who subscribe to the group I administer are all functioning adults. That person was so upset, any attempt by me being rational was lost.  In fact, my attempt to be reasonable and calm was interpreted as being passive aggressive.  I was verbally insulted and called names. And to further insult me, in case I didn’t understand what the word meant, I was sent the meaning of ‘passive aggressive’. Hmm, does this blog constitute being  passive aggressive?    To top it off I was not the one who started this foolish dispute. A dispute that could have been resolved had either of them bothered to pick up the phone and talked to one another. 

Apparently, that particular group chat was so emotionally charged that participants where slinging mud at each other well into the early hours of the following morning. Mercifully, I didn't participate, even as a witness, to what appeared to be a denigration frenzy.  The fact that I was not involved in the conversation apparently didn't matter because I was accused of being held responsible for their bad behavior and the consequences of the fallout from this chat. Oh, how I digress!  

What is happening to us? Social media platforms, specifically Facebook, have altered the behavior of people so much that normal cordial and intelligent conversation is becoming a distant memory.  The boundary of human decency and respect is replaced with a more cavalier attitude.  Conversations on social media that are embroiled in a highly charged emotional state are like the Wild West. Just shoot from the hip indiscriminately and worry about it later. As people angrily tap, tap, tap, on their computer keyboard slinging insults and innuendos at each other, they simply just lose their mind. More often than not they leave the conversation consumed with so much anger and animosity for each other that it impacts on their real life relationships. Families are now the enemies, Friends are deleted, and people are left disempowered, disillusioned, and bat crazy with anger. 

The person who started this drama ended up saying, "I am so heartbroken".  Come on you started this drama and now you want sympathy! Even before the conversation got heated, you said to me "I am ashamed to call you family." That certainly was not an invitation for me to go back into that chat.   Grow up and get some perspective! Until you've experienced both the loss  of your beloved mom and a very special brother in less than six months, you have no idea about heartbreak.  A argument on social media, no matter how unpleasant, does not compare to the heartbreak I feel everyday missing my late mom and late brother.  It has only been just over 7 months since Rossi passed away.  I am still grieving him.  

Welcome to the human dynamics of the 21^st century.   I miss the days of snail mail and lovely hand written letters, don’t you? It boggles my mind how quickly we have gone down this rabbit hole.  

New World Order, Sucks!

I found my voice.   It takes courage to speak your opinions, especially when some of them relate to members of your family.  I found it liberating to speak out about injustices within my First Nation but then I was faced with a choice between speaking up and being rejected by certain family members or stay silent. I chose family. My voice went silent.  

Social media platforms are great for casual and even virtual relationships.  You can be my friend today and block me tomorrow because I said something you don’t like.  I have Facebook, Instagram and Twitter friends all over the world who I will never meet but can have a connection on shared interest.  And in the context of your real family these platforms can be wonderful ways to share news, pictures and messages.  In my case, my family is enormous and there is no way I could keep in touch with everyone without these platforms. 

Over the years, I’ve worked on myself to become more aware of how my behaviour affects others. Often I will not say something to a person about their actions unless I feel they can handle it. There has to be an understanding for them to hear what I have to say before they are able to hear it without overreacting or feel that they are being attacked. I admit, in the past I have misjudged some people and have paid for that by losing their respect, whether it was justified or not.

At our core, we all seek a meaningful and purposeful life.  Something that gives us meaning as human beings.  Our need for human connection is a basic need that began when we were children as part of a family. Our family relationships provided us a connection with others and shaped who we are. 

It is true, you don’t pick your family.   Instead you are born into a family. Being part of my family is a gift.  You have no idea how very lucky we are to have a large family with diverse interests on so many levels. 

Each family member has value and we all contribute to the dynamics of our family. However, family dynamics, we can agree, are complex and sometimes can be very complicated because of our underlying emotional baggage.

All things being equal, relationships take work, especially family relationships. It is not easy. Thus, it is even more important to keep the lines of communications open. I think to be an effective communicator one must become a master at communicating with all family members inspite of our differences. If you achieve a mastery level in family relationships you can successfully communicate with anyone. I guarantee it. LOL

At the same time social platforms undermine us by making it easier to cut off communications. Sometimes in the heat of an argument our default is to remove people on our social platforms and then take it to the next and final step, to block them. For those who are not familiar with the term "blocking" it means you cannot contact the person who cut you off on the internet. Often they also take the extra step to block your calls on their cellphone. Blocking someone, to be sure, can give you a feeling of empowerment. But the message is relationships, including family, are disposable. You are thrown away in a blink of an eye without a second thought. And this leaves the person blocked feeling helpless without an explanation of why they were blocked. It is a cowardly way to end a family relationship. 

But of course you have that right. Particularly if you feel an individual is harming you in anyway and is devoid of any empathy or compassion towards you. By all means block away. That said, if your family member is not a deviant evil human being, in other words not a psychopath, then why not work on your disagreement.  What is wrong with talking to that person? Just saying. 

When you block a family member, you may not realize the ramifications of this action. I have been removed and blocked by family members.  I interpreted it to mean that person no longer wants me in their life, and I interpret it to mean that I am no longer family. It is a pretty clear message.  

This is the downside of mixing the disposable culture of social platforms with a real family.  If I block a Facebook “friend” on Facebook I won’t have to live with the consequences of that person’s feelings.  But when a family member blocks me, somebody whose blood and history I share, how am I supposed to feel?

Indeed, how do I feel and act when I continue to see a person who has blocked me at family functions? When I found myself at a family gathering, I felt awkward and didn't know how I was suppose to act.  Do I say hi and shake their hand or do I ignore them?  Of course, I shook their hand but it felt disingenuous. It is perplexing to say the least.

Rose, Liz, Mary, Annie, Dora, and Mama. 

Initially I told myself that doesn’t really matter. But you know what, it matters to me! We will continue to see each other at family gatherings. Awkward, right? Furthermore, withholding family affection because of a disagreement is the worst kind of emotional blackmail and not to mention it is hurtful. What hurt the most is the family members who rejected me are people who found their purpose in standing up for environmental injustices, fighting against the colonial government on issues of Indigenous Rights but yet they feel justified in their position to reject a family member who stands for injustice of our membership against our own leadership's actions.  

Frankly I find it ironic and it is the definition of intolerance. As a child of the First Nations Residential School System I feel that this intolerance and indifference from family is a step backwards.  How can we talk about Truth and Reconciliation as a Nation if we have intolerance within our family and in our communities?  It certainly is not part of our Indigenous culture and definitely not in line with our own Dene Laws.

At the end of the day, in this new world order, basically I see a disconnect between our actions on social platforms and being caring individuals.   Understandably, it takes bravery to step out from behind social platforms and actually engage with one another as adults, instead of behaving like petulant children.  Which is exactly what these platforms encourage us to be.  I don’t like something you said, and so I am going to pretend you no longer exist.

I will always choose family over politics because family matters to me. We can choose to

respond to family in whichever way we want, but your choice will determine how much you value being part of this family.  I recognize we are individuals going through different things in our life and I respect your choices. To that end, I will never remove family members or block them from my life either on social platforms or in “real” life.  That is my promise to my family.  

The younger generation is watching. 

The other side of it is this.  If you don’t like something I say, please talk to me.  Try to understand my side of it.  If you don’t agree with me, fine.  But don’t turn your back on me.  Don’t ignore me when we see each other.  I am a person, part of your family.  I will always be there if you need me.  I am not just a Facebook “friend.”  Like it or not, we are family.

Is Social Media making us Hardnosed?

It doesn’t matter to me what you believe about politics, religion, or finances. I don’t care who you support politically and I won’t hate you if we disagree.

So what if you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or a carnivore?  It simply has nothing to do with me. More importantly, if you’re Christian, Muslim, Atheist, or Agnostic, if we’re friends or family, I will look past our differences and look at what we have in common. Moreover, I will listen to you with compassionate and empathy.

You can post whatever you want, wherever you choose, and I am ok with that!  

That said, if I feel you’re open minded enough to have a debate, I might debate with you.  But trust me on this, I won’t unfriend, unfollow, or disown you if we disagree.  I enjoy a great debate and I won’t hold your opinions against you regardless how heated our debate might become.  The truth is that no matter what our differences might be, it has no bearing on me personally. I won’t take your opinion personally because it has nothing to do with me, even if your comments are directed at me. It is merely an opinion.

Since the Paris terrorist attacks on Friday, November 13^th, 2015, social media have been flooded with personal opinions. There have been numerous comments on the event and the fallout on social media was swift. Many people have unfriended each other based on what these comments meant to them. To be sure, there were some very ugly comments in the newsfeeds. Emotions were volatile and by and large people held very strong opposing opinions. Terrible things were written, and shared widely, largely to people who didn’t even know each other.

Which begs the question, is social media making us inflexible and jerks?  Are we becoming more egocentric, in that we believe our opinion matters and is paramount? I think, yes we are and yes, we most certainly do. 

And, I also think social media gives us a false sense of courage, and ironically our anonymity online makes us feel important. The fact is because we are not face to face, looking into the eyes of a person, that we have the courage to espouse our unfiltered and sometime knee jerk reactions to something we have read online but really this can be an act of cowardliness. Furthermore, more often than not we are not held responsible for the fallout that ensues after certain comments are posted. We can simple disappear from the conversation or troll silently following the discussion thread, feeling self-important.

If we exercised a sober second thought about what we write on Facebook, Twitter and blogs, we might never even post online. For me, this is certainly true that I delete more comments I begin to write after thinking about it than I actually post. This is particularly true if I am commenting on something that has annoyed me.  Sometimes, I will read something online and say to myself, “OMG!” “idiot”, “Does that person not fact check”, “WTH”, etc. Then, I will quickly write a critical and judgmental reply.  But then, I have trained myself to pause and decide whether or not to delete my comment because my opinion on social media to virtual strangers in the greater scheme of things, does not matter!  

Thankfully, humanity is culturally diverse with varying points of view. I can’t imagine what this world would look like if everyone thought like me. Well, I can, and it would be pretty awesome.  But, I digress! 

On the whole, my opinion is that if you want a simpler life and keep your blood pressure in check, don’t take everything you read on social media as a personal affront to your character, integrity, morals, or ethics.  The more you let go of your ego, the freer you are and the less of a jerk you become.  And if you are tempted to lash out in haste, it is very therapeutic to put down in words exactly how you are feeling.  But take a deep breath and then delete it! 

The foregoing was my personal opinion and hopefully was not an affront to anyone who reads it. That said, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t comment. LOL