A Twitter poll crossed my feed today. As polls go, social media’s track record is pretty bad. First, they’re usually unambiguously biased to target a particular audience. Second, they are often “disrupted” when people of an opposition view get a hold of them. Third, they’re usually pretty dumb from the start. This poll that caught my attention fell into all three categories.
It asked, “The term ‘boomer’ is being used by Millenials [sic] and stupid little kids as an ageist slur against older, mature people. Considering this is an equivalent of the n-word, should it be banned on Facebook?”
After a little research, I found that Twitter poll was an accompaniment to the original Facebook poll. Both had identical results, as it likely should considering the premise. 95% of the 300,000+ responses on each network voted against the idea of banning “OK Boomer.” This is an outcome that goes well beyond any “disruption” I’ve ever seen. Sure, we’ve seen disruptions from popular leftist accounts like Bill Kristol and the DCCC get flipped while breaking 100,000 votes, but this one has taken such a massive turn against the poster’s premise that it simply cannot be attributed to disruption. Perhaps it’s because the premise is ludicrous, even to the left.
Here’s a screenshot, followed by the live poll:
DO NOT RETWEET if your intent is to disrupt the poll any further with troll voting. This is a form of harassment.
— Friends of Journalism (@journalistew) November 8, 2019
The poster also put up a video condemning the “disruption” and further trying to make his point that “OK Boomer” is equivalent to the N-word. It isn’t. It’s not even close. One is a heinous word that represents a stain in American history. The other is modern day meme that will be forgotten in a few weeks and that won’t represent the persecution of a race of people. The ludicrous comparison isn’t worth discussing.
This falls in-line with a movie our EIC watched today, “No Safe Spaces.” I haven’t had a chance to see it yet but I’ve seen enough from Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla to have a pretty good idea about where they went in their movie. The “snowflakes” of today want to turn everyone on their side of the political aisle into victims, and they want people to wear their victim badges with some sort of sordid pride. I’m not suggesting real victims shouldn’t be proud as survivors of their persecution. I’m saying most who try to fall under the victim-category in the modern world simply are not.
Under no circumstances should anyone say the N-word, especially with malice as their intent. Is it ageism to say “OK Boomer”? Perhaps. Is there ageism when people condemn Millennials based the name of their age? Perhaps. But neither qualifies as “hate speech,” even to most on the left. In fact, anecdotally I’ve seen the phrase used more by the left than the right.
One final point. Hate speech is still protected speech, just as it should be. Those who oppose it are right to do so if that’s how they truly feel, but that does not mean those they believe are spouting out hate speech should be suppressed. Let’s fight bad ideas with good ideas. Let’s fight hatred with sensibility and love. There’s no need to prevent an argument when it should be so easy to win.
This may be the most accurate Twitter poll in history. If anything, it falls short of exemplifying the real number of people who do no consider “OK Boomer” to be equivalent to the “N-word.” Let’s stop making victims out of everyone.
We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.
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