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Last week I finally deactivated my X account for good. It’s still going to take a few weeks for the content to be permanently deleted, because Elon Musk’s website gives you up to 30 days to change your mind. However, this time, I am determined not to go back.
The immediate cause was a feeling of both shock and shame at the extreme reactions I received in response to a post I made about the death of Charlie Kirk – where I reiterated my genuine condemnation of his vile murder, but also expressed the view that he did not deserve to be hailed as some sort of saintly martyr. I was deluged with hateful comments, accusing me of glorifying his death, and of hypocrisy, since I had not been similarly critical of those mourning the death of George Floyd.
I must admit the comments gave me pause. Was I just adding to the toxic stew of polarization and hatred in America, and insulting those who genuinely admired him, by daring to venture that Charlie Kirk was not perfect? I didn’t think my comments were dreadfully barbed, or even unjustified. However, on reflection, I concluded that they were inappropriate, especially given the circumstances of his killing. I felt mortified, immediately deleted the post, and decided that I actually ought to take a step back from X, if only to give myself time to reflect on how I came to this point.
I subsequently realized I was feeling a deeper emotion – fear. Fear at the extreme tone of some of the reactions to my post, some explicitly aggressive. And fear that, in today’s toxic climate, anything I post on X might one day be used against me. We’ve all seen the experiences of others on X who’ve unthinkingly tweeted something which they’ve later regretted, and tried to delete – only for screen shots of those posts to be recirculated endlessly by others, haunting the original poster forever.
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Josiah Mortimer
The very nature of social media encourages hasty reactions to things we’ve seen or read. It’s caused me to make my own fair share of posts on X, which I’ve later regretted. When I first started using twitter, rather than use the “cowardly” option of deleting poor posts, I used to try to own up to my mistake, apologise to those I had offended, and pledge to try to do better. On the whole, I used to receive an understanding response.
Increasingly, however, I’ve found that genuine remorse no longer leads to any forgiveness, leeway or grace, but instead to more censure, for having been so wrong in the first place. Not just the content of my offending post is criticized, but my entire character is attacked and found wanting. More and more comments are becoming personal, insulting, and, in some cases, threatening.
Even more carefully drafted posts now generate extreme reactions. For example, it is almost impossible to say anything about the situation in Gaza, without being attacked from all sides – for appearing to condone Israel’s actions in Gaza, supporting genocide, or being a terrorist sympathizer. It’s almost impossible to say anything negative about political developments in the UK, without being lambasted as a failed Ambassador, a loser, a traitor, or someone who hates the UK. It’s almost impossible to criticize Trump, without being told to “go home, if you don’t like it here”, being accused of being a “libtard”, or of suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.
I am not a well-known public figure. My posts rarely receive more than a few hundred likes or reposts. So, the risk of actual danger to me is relatively low. I can barely imagine how awful it m…