Gareth Bale willing to boycott social media over abuse of footballers
- Thread starter mawspurs
- Start date
A mass boycott will mean jack shit, Gareth. No one really cares what you lot say on social media. you only think we do.
Players feels they are so important in the day to day of regular people. Unless I'm here, I literally don't dedicate half a thought to them.
Players feels they are so important in the day to day of regular people. Unless I'm here, I literally don't dedicate half a thought to them.
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Freddie
Well-Known Member
- Jan 29, 2004
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Not sure about that. Although their posts are generally towing the party-line, inane crap, they have millions of people engaging with them. If those accounts close then social media operators would definitely have to act.
"If everyone did it, I would" is such a flimsy, meek show of concern though. If you wanna do something then just close it.
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TheVoiceofReason
Well-Known Member
- Feb 5, 2005
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The irony of this comment. Here we are talking about it, so maybe it will make a difference.
dontcallme
SC Supporter
- Mar 18, 2005
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He is right that a boycott is the only way to change the situation. But that doesn't mean they should.
Johnny J
Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
- Aug 18, 2012
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Even by the standards of hot takes, this particular hot take is spectacularly, demonstrably wrong.
You may not dedicate more than half a thought to them.
But Ronaldo has nearly half a billion followers on social media (combined Twitter, Facebook and Insta).
Many, many people really do care about, or are in some way interested in, what famous people, including footballers, say.
Should they? Maybe not. But that's a different question.
How exactly? Introduce even more censorship to social media?
If you have millions, tens or even hundreds of millions of followers on SM, then you are willingly opening yourself up to a torrent of abuse. It's just human nature - be it through envy, spite or just pure dickheadetry. But that is a choice those people make. No one is forcing them to do it. They make millions of pounds from it, but still expect to be strolled around on lecticas. Doesn't work that way. So either shut down the accounts and enjoy peace, or man up and take some harsh bollocks on the chin.
Johnny J
Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
- Aug 18, 2012
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Stopping abuse on social media isn't censorship. A tolerant society doesn't necessitate tolerance of intolerance.
Or, as Karl Popper put it: "If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them."
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Gassin's finest
C'est diabolique
- May 12, 2010
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I think most people in the public eye should be off social media.
Hell, I think everyone should be off social media. I even hate the phrase. It should be rebranded to "people being twats on the internet."
Hell, I think everyone should be off social media. I even hate the phrase. It should be rebranded to "people being twats on the internet."
Metalhead
But that's a debate for another thread.....
- Nov 24, 2013
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I think that social media in general gives people an inflated sense of their own importance.
yid-down-under
Well-Known Member
- Sep 21, 2003
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Never had a social media account in any platform and I never will.
messaging on this website is as near as I’ll get to one
messaging on this website is as near as I’ll get to one
Freddie
Well-Known Member
- Jan 29, 2004
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Have you read the article? This is about Ben Cabango getting racially abused on Instagram. He doesn't make millions from it, nor has he invited abuse by simply enjoying the platform. Nothing to do with censorship. Your solution is to ask young people to have no social presence in the current era. How about we make it harder to get away with racism rather than telling black people to stay off platforms?
Johnny J
Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
- Aug 18, 2012
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Exactly this.
People sometimes forget that these social media platforms aren't some immutable law of nature that we all must work around somehow.
They're services run by corporations who can, and should, do far, far more to stop people acting abusively on them.
It is entirely in the gift of these platform holders to use their vast resources to stop them being used to spread abuse and hate-speech.
For those corporations to throw their hands in the air and say it's not for them to regulate how people use their platforms, and instead ask governments to do it, is negligent and a total abrogation of responsibility.
It has nothing to do with free speech or censorship.
Shadydan
Well-Known Member
- Jul 7, 2012
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Well you kinda have, you're posting on a social media platform now.
But there already are anti-racism regulations in place. When people get reported for it they get suspended or banned. There is nothing else, barring a ban on words such as "black" "dark" etc, that you can do. As I said, SM users have no influence on who posts what. Hence, if you want peace and quiet then stay off. Again, no one is saying you HAVE TO be on SM.
But if you are, you will have nasty stuff spoken about your views, appearance, skin colour, sexual orientation, nationality etc. That's just the way the world is - statistics - and stomping your feet in anger and indignation is not going to change it. I'm sorry. We've all experienced it in one way or another, even on here.
Johnny J
Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
- Aug 18, 2012
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Your argument seems to be that nothing more can be done to stop, for example, racism on social media, and that the only solution is for those being abused to stay away from social media.
Surely you can see this is not the answer?
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I never said it would. But I don't see how it can be curbed with BILLIONS of users world wide in cultures that understand racism very differently or simply support it - not only white ones mind you as it works in all directions on SM. So either one accepts that it will happen and just ignore it, or they don't use SM at all. Honestly I don't see another way out. Stopping online abuse is undoable.
Johnny J
Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
- Aug 18, 2012
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I think there's something between your two extreme positions of "accept abuse" or "don't use social media".
We wouldn't say that to anyone, say, who's abused at work or at a match or walking their dog, so I don't see why it's any different for social media.
The underlying problem isn't social media, it's people, but social media platforms are enablers and need to do far more than they are. If they can't properly monitor and regulate non-abusive use of their own platforms, the platforms shouldn't exist in the first place.
ERO
The artist f.k.a Steffen Freund - Mentalist ****
- Jun 8, 2003
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He said. On social media.
