How many times have you set out to express your attitude or opinion and then changed your mind because you know or think that your friends and the general public have opposing views and opinions? Whether you may be supporting a person that others are attacking (without arguments), defending an opinion that is not popular, criticism of someone or something that is popular, support of assembly which the majority does not approve, laughing at a joke that others see as an insult, and so on. Knowing all this, did you still state your opinion publicly or did you withdraw and self-censor so as not to be exposed to criticism, or have problems in society, family or at work, or maybe even risk being expelled from society in some way? If we know that many people censor themselves i.e. that others indirectly silence them, is then what we read on forums and social networks really the attitude of the majority or is this the attitude of the minority who first occupied the online space and imposes its opinion as the preferred and dominant one, on a particular subject or person, where the others then adjusted to the primary opinion? Is what we read the opinion of majority or did the vocal minority silence them?
Social networks are a new channel of communication that people are slowly getting used to and whose rules they learn and adapt to. They have become the most important source of information whether it is political news, disasters around the world, relationships of celebrities or what our virtual friend had for lunch, where and with whom he was, and so on. Through social networks, people not only receive information, but also have the opportunity to give their comment, and also to become a source of news and start a discussion on a certain topic. This has certain advantages because it gives smart and interesting people space to say what they think and to offer the general public a different picture from the one they get through official channels. However, it carries a certain risk because it provides space to sick, retrograde and radical individuals and groups to spread their ideas which will include hatred and calls on the execution of everything different.
Are We Silenced by Others or Do We Censor Ourselves
When you follow posts and comments on social media, you may notice that most share similar views and opinions on a given topic. Therefore, one might think that most people really have the same or similar views on this particular topic. However, is that really the case? Is what we read on social media, the opinion of the majority and is it the opinion of a certain number of people who were the first to express their opinion and started spreading it and thus gradually silenced all those who have a different attitude and did not want any inconvenience due to a different attitude. It so happens that something that many approve of, still remains without the support of the general public because some apparent majority was the first to take an opinion and impose it as a correct one. Others will, in fear of being criticized, silence their attitude, and perhaps even adjust it to the attitude of the majority so that they do not have to feel bad about it.
It is for this reason that more and more political parties hire and pay their members and sympathizers, and sometimes people eager to earn money, to impose a certain attitude as dominant. These people are called trolls, who deliberately poison and confuse the virtual space, and through it, the real world. Rarely are these intelligent and educated people because they are harder to buy. Trolls are usually people of poor education and knowledge, and without any morals, who only spread what they are ordered to do. This is why in virtual battles you can find absolutely the same sentences, photos, arguments and attitudes because these people are not able to convey messages that came from the top in their own words. Instead, they literally convey the command into cyberspace. These people often do not even have a basic knowledge of the topics in question, so when they try to discuss it, they resort to insults and threats because that is the only option for them.
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