By: Sara Rančigaj
Social networks have become a real playground for pouring out anger and indignation of individuals. While certain individuals still remain firm and stand by their words with a revealed identity, there are more of those who vent their anger behind anonymous profiles. One such profile is Ermin Rizvanovič, who has extremely offensive records on his profile, where there is no shortage of death threats. “Clerical fascists into parliament and burn them,” is just one of the statements. As a rule, the media do not condemn such threats, as they are directed towards the right wing.
Threats and verbal attacks on social networks have become a real constant and have begun to prove to be a socially acceptable norm, as Twitter does not restrict such records, where they threaten and grossly insult dissenters, and similarly selective media reporting further intensifies such actions. Moreover, such records and their (un)censorship teach society that such a level of communication is acceptable, even though they are death threats. The prosecution does not prosecute such acts either.
It can be seen on Twitter that in all probability it is an anonymous user who is publicly convinced that the parliament should be set on fire, but as he continued in the next post, he would only set fire to the “clerical-fascist vermin”.
“Home guard vermin should simply be killed so we do not incur costs,” he further intensifies his hostile disposition. Meanwhile, one of the Twitter users replied that Allah would not punish him for such statements, but she is convinced that he was punished by sending him to Slovenia. Meanwhile, she also states that Slovenians are unicellular to him.
“Death to pigs, cracknel to the nation,” he wrote, referring to the Prime Minister Janez Janša and those who think differently, who, in his words, should obviously be sent to slaughter, which is extremely degrading.
While on the one hand we have Twitter users who spread hate speech but have at least enough backbone to reveal their identities, on the other hand we can find even more violent statements among those whose identities are hidden. With the help of a hidden identity, they can pour out all their anger and rage and show all the worst things in them, without having to answer for it. Will Twitter take care of censorship or condemn such acts?