To Those Who Profit Off Of Right Wing Radicalization:

To those who profit off of right wing radicalization:

This is a message for big social media companies whose algorithms boost radical content and lead people down conspiracy theory rabbit holes, for radical right wing news networks like OAN and NewsMax, for conspiracy theory promoters who know that what they’re saying isn’t true but promote it anyway because it makes them money, for Jim Watkins and whoever is behind Q, for all of the conservative congressmen and women like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz who voted not to certify the election results. And for Donald J. Trump. How dare you? How dare you prey on people who are confused and scared and searching for anything that provides them with answers in this time of uncertainty. You have knowingly radicalized people, torn them apart from their families, their friends, their communities. You have tricked these people into believing that the world is against them. People are naturally afraid of what they cannot control. They will instinctively search for answers that make them feel like this has happened for a reason. That there is something that can be done to make all of our problems go away. You know this. And instead of doing your part to ensure that people have the right information and know who to look to in this time of need, you chose to trade people’s lives and well-being for your own monetary gain. A large group of the population lived most of their lives without the internet. They are not used to being able to access such a large quantity of information. And they are certainly not used to a lot of it being untrue. These people grew up where their only sources of information were local and national news and the library. They grew up in a world where there wasn’t much monetary benefit to misinformation. Where they could, for the most part, trust that the information they were being told was true. They were never taught how to check the validity of online sources, how to know if what they’re being told is true. As a result, they are especially vulnerable to fear mongering, conspiracy theories, and ultimately, radicalization. You knew that, and you exploited them. My grandparents have always been conservative, but they were never conspiracy theorists. They always had their heads on straight. They may have disagreed with democrats and other people on the left, but they weren’t evil. There might have been differences between them and other branches of Christianity, but that didn’t mean they were Godless. They may not have liked certain government interventions, but that didn’t mean they were trying to prosecute Christians. In the past couple of years, and especially since the start of Covid, all of that has changed. My grandmother is always talking about how terrible the state of human trafficking in this country is. She’s always going on about how all of these social distancing regulations are just trying to make Christianity illegal. She said that Joe Biden is awful and not a real Christian because he’s Catholic. She thinks the CDC, a non-partisan organization, is corrupt. (Luckily she still got the vaccine.) She even told me that they’re making it legal in some places to murder babies who are already born. My grandfather, while more subtle about his beliefs around me, will still mutter things to my grandmother when smear campaign ads come on, and will nod along when my grandmother repeats bunk facts and statistics about antifa and abortion. (This is part 1. I’m posting part 2 right away.)