What Truths Is Twitter Revealing About Our Nation’s Collective Character?

The vitriol that is spread under the cover of social media anonymity is quickly infecting the rest of society.

March 7, 2017 by Mary Novaria 

Featured on The Good Men Project

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I’ve heard it said that folks who spew malicious attacks and toxic name-calling on Twitter are hiding behind relative anonymity—that they would never look someone in the eye and repeat face-to-face the same nasty, ugly venom, they type out to the world in 140 characters or less.

Whether that theory is true, and I’m not convinced it is, doesn’t matter. Words are currency. Whether delivered via social media, a phone call, email or text, or in the presence of others, the words we choose and way we use them speaks volumes about who we are, both individually and as a society.

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So when I see the headline, Longtime Trump Adviser Calls Critic a “Stupid Ignorant Ugly B—–,” it gets my hackles up. Although some of his most profane and poisonous tweets were deleted, it’s been widely reported that Roger Stone, a crony of the President, unleashed attacks over the weekend aimed at CNN commentator Anna Navarro (whom he called “fat and stupid”), politics writer Yashir Ali (“politically correct asswipe”), and a woman who goes by Caroline O.

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