This morning, I woke up to a story about an antisemitic act in IL06. We had received no calls from constituents, nor were we able to confirm it occurred. I am not going to re-tweet it, but it is cause for a brief discussion of Israel, Palestine and social media disinformation
1/ First, there is no conflict between being pro-Israel and being committed to human rights for everyone living in Gaza and the West Bank.
2/ If that is your view as well, the cycle of attacks and counter attacks every 3 - 7 years is the irreducible problem. Our goal must be to ensure that we aren't having this same conversation 5 years from now.
3/ Effecting that change requires understanding and influencing the politics on the ground in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. We will not change these facts if we look only through the lens of US politics.
4/ And to that end, this is decidedly unhelpful. nytimes.com/2021/05/14/tec…
5/ All of us, in this social media age are publishers who have the ability to amplify and inflame mistruths. Whatever your agenda, know that there are people opposed to your view who know exactly how to plant stories that will abuse social media algorithms to amplify theirs.
6/ If you see something in your social media feed that makes you angry, or that justifies your pre-existing biases, be skeptical. That is exactly the content that the algorithms are designed to boost.
7/ That doesn't mean it's not true. But - especially on politically contentious issues - be skeptical. Don't boost that signal without independent confirmation. Try to disprove it first. Be an editor.
8/ This is true for all social media of course, but especially on politically charged topics like these, know that there are people who's agenda is at odds with your own who are seeking to manipulate you. Be vigilant. /fin
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