Online Toxic Hate - A Situation That Saddens Me (and a long hard look at the immorality of the issue)
We know that a lot of social media platforms house a lot of toxic people who believe it's fine to throw hate someone's way and to be verbally abusive towards them, or even their family. Reddit is one of the worst for that, and that's why I tend to stay away from the place.
I just found out about something that truly sickens me about that online world and makes me really sad to know that people think such hate is justifiable.
A YouTuber who goes by the name of Potates, whom I follow, made a mistake. He typically puts out video content about video games, theories and news, and I discovered him a couple of months ago. He seems like a really genuine person, jovial, and I've interacted with him a couple of times in the comment section of one or two of his videos.
What happened is that he wanted to make a video about Fallout76 and he found a post with bullet points, as I understand, and he used as an aid in addition to his own points. Most of his videos are thought out and I understand wanting an aid for the video. These notes were on Reddit, and he omitted to verify the author of the post, instead assuming it was part of another group of posters and credited the wrong person, as I understand it.
Well, the Reddit user found out and called him out on it. As a rule of thumb, I always check in with content creators to make sure I have their permission, but proper credit and referencing the source falls under Fair Use, as far as I'm concerned. Apparently there was a bit of backlash with some of the hate, and the two people involved may have reacted in anger towards each other, something about downvoting. I don't know all the details, but I understand lashing out in anger when hate is being spewed your way. Been there, done that.
and the video has been taken down.
NO ONE ELSE.
If Potates DID involve some of his followers in a downvoting war in retaliation to that Reddit user's followers being toxic towards Potates, it just adds fuel to the fire and gives the abusers what they want. I don't know the details though and it's just one side against the other side throwing accusations at this point.
And of course, people feel it's their RIGHT to spew hate and be abusive towards a person who made an honest mistake, believing he's only sorry for getting caught, or that he must surely do this sort of thing for all his videos, and that he should take down his channel. ONE MISTAKE folks, and people are even contacting HIS FAMILY and issuing hate their way. THIS IS ABUSE!
NO ONE has the MORAL RIGHT to be abusive towards ANYONE under ANY circumstances. IT'S NOT MORAL. And trust me when I say I've wanted to be abusive back to Narcky, but me abusing him for the abuse he put me through IS NOT MORAL, even if he abused me. I can understand the VICTIM wanting to be abusive towards the aggressor. I don't understand people who are uninvolved wanting to be abusive.
People don't realise they're being abusive AND THAT'S A PROBLEM. They THINK they are being the SAVIORS. Victim-Savior-Aggressor complex. Triangle of Hell. They THINK they're allowed, they THINK they have the right. THEY DON'T. They think this is them acting on Freedom of Speech. Sure, to a certain extent, but fact remains, it's ABUSE. Look, I believe we're better off not censoring, but morality needs to be understood, otherwise there will be abuse in the name of Freedom of Speech and REAL Freedom of Speech will be in jeopardy. It's corrupt that moral people are being censored to allow immoral people to execute their own so-called freedom of speech. But I digress.
It really saddens me to see this and know of this. This person made a mistake, it happens to the best of us. He miscredited. Fine. And reparations are being made. This behaviour or hatred and toxicity towards a creator and their family for one mistake... THEIR FAMILY!!!
Potates has an excellent channel and truth be told, he's inspired me for my channel. I take inspiration from many channels, and it's a fun way to try new things and make things unique and improve the way you present your content. He has a gaming channel and he talks about Dragon Age sometimes; so he's someone I put on my list for future collabs.
It grieves me greatly to know some of the sentiments from the Reddit users and how the toxicity is so raw. I have a hard time understanding how people see this as okay, as NOT abuse. Maybe it's because I've researched abuse and lived it that I can't see how THEY can't see. Maybe it's because I believe in Morality and Natural Law, maybe because I'm here on Steemit, where everyone is mostly kumbaya. /wink
I believe a part of those people might be toxic people like psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists who prey on others and feed on their guilt and fear. But I also believe that many of those people who are being toxic and verbally abusive are hurt, and have been hurting for a long time, they do not love themselves, and thus they cannot do anything but hate on others. They need love. But I cannot save them, I cannot enlighten them. I can only acknowledge the emotions it arises within me and be grateful for the awareness and sensitivity that I have and the understanding I have regarding such situations. And then talk about it here on Steemit ;)
Let's ensure that Steemit always remains a place of love and respect where toxicity is discouraged, where we learn from our mistakes, where we evolve together, and where abuse is not permitted.
For the curious, here is the link to Potates's channel: https://www.youtube.com/potates.
Images are from Pexels.com.
True, even more than that - I believe the issue is not that people don't see themselves being abusive, it's the fact that abusing others (especially indirectly in the internet) is becoming a normal thing. What makes me sad about this is that for some reason this is thought to be clever when in reality it takes a lot more guts to hold off that toxic urge (we're all human and we all have them) and show some empathy instead. Well as long as there are people who share thoughts such as your above - the important thing is to actually set an example for others, even one person who will stop and think before hurting another's feelings is already a huge win!
Thanks. It can be very challenging indeed to hold off on retaliation when we're insulted online. We all have our ticks and triggers and when experiencing fear and anger, it's easy to fall prey to toxicity or to make decisions that are not in our own best interest.
Gooood