For the most part, I previously thought about internet racism as being fueled by anonymity. Take a look at the comments sections of news sites. Even when there is a little blip that reads something like Blah blah blah we value freedom of speech and reasoned discourse blah blah blah no racist or sexist or any other kind of ist will be tolerated. And then directly following that is usually a bunch of -ist comments.
Sometimes it’s because free speech is privileged above preventing racist harm. But sometimes it’s because the racism isn’t even recognized.
But then came the popularity of social media sites like myspace and Facebook and twitter. Which blows my “anonymity” theory right out of the water. There’s been a lot of racist tweeting going on, from politicians to has-been celebrities to sportswriters. Facebook is a known site for college racists.
But if the racist perpetrator attached his or her name to racism, what does that mean? Does it mean that they didn’t care about it? Or that they didn’t think about it? Or that they knew that within their circle everybody else would agree? Or maybe even that they were proud of it?
