The first line of Vincent’s article ‘The ‘Spiral of Silence” is “how often do you really say what you feel online?” and I’ve got a story. My mom used to drill into my head about what not to put online and anytime she saw me on my iPod I would get a speech about not being stupid. I also had access to the internet too young, I had a computer in my room and a Facebook in 2010. I was born in 2000. The days I would lay on my ‘cool’ futon and go to Nick.com to watch Drake and Josh, I should not have had it, but relatively, besides grammar, I didn’t put anything too crazy on there. And then I grew up and it’s now a conscious decision to watch what I say, but… I may have slipped up a time or two. And very recently, well like 2 months ago. Long story short there were some rumors that went around my high school about an administrator, and more rumors that the school covered it up and nothing ever happened. Then not that long ago another worker from the school went viral and was victimized by the cancel culture, and I posted something about it along the lines of if good people are coming down, bad people should too and here’s where we ended up- a Facebook message from said administrator saying I’ll hear from her lawyer and let me tell you what that was my ‘what the fuck did I do’ moment. I was taught this, I knew this, and here I was being sued because I said some dumb shit. I immediately deleted it, freaked out, and told my mom. After a long night of disappointment and yelling, nothing ever happened, I expected cops at my door when I woke up but nope, she was bluffing. And now my facebook consists of octopus, and raccoons, and Grey’s Anatomy.

I’ve actually been thinking about how Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and how they all work, and if they work differently. I hate the continuous swipe, the never ending and then the “oh shit” as I pass past someone worth it and not being able to go back. “If you’ve passed on someone, eventually, someone you’ve said “no” to is a much better option than someone who’s 1,000 or 10,000 people down the line.”(Tiffany) I’ve never thought about this like this, I’ve always pictured it as missed opportunities or someone that continuously swipes on me. A 6 is a 6 in a room full of 10s but a 6 is a 10 in a room full of 5s. I notice recycling all the time and it’s usually the hardcore no’s that stick out and just piss me off, but it’s to make everyone look better. Funny enough, my ex messaged me on Snapchat last night telling me he saw my tinder 5 times in about 30 minutes when I was playing solitaire not even on it. I wonder if I was getting better or worse.(lol)

“Hated in the Nation” is basically what happens when you say something wrong or that goes against the social majority. Cancel culture is so quick that literally in a matter of hours someone could lose it all, family, job, friends, everything. I brought up the first day of class that the top realtor at my cousins office in Florida posted someone on Facebook and was out of her multimillion dollar job by 9 am. Hoards of people simultaneously speak up and that’s it. The bees, the likes, swarm and capture people.