Can We Please Hold the Right Wing Accountable for Sending Death Threats?

Thanks for the tips! Upgrade at 40% offI think we need to make a deliberate effort to have a kinder, gentler internet. I, for one, don't want my children to have to go online and be confronted by some jerk who threatens to murder them. I understand that when you're a person who speaks truth to power, you have to expect a little bit of pushback. I advocate for justice, liberty, tolerance and equality. Naturally, I get my fair share of death threats from individuals on the right.It’s also important to defend the concept of free speech. But my issue is that threatening speech is not protected by the First Amendment. You’re also not allowed to share privileged information or engage in defamation.We already have established boundaries as to what constitutes free speech, and death threats are not acceptable.So why does the radicalized right keep sending them? Why aren’t there any consequences? Why isn’t anyone talking about this?There are a number of disingenuous individuals who try to frame this as a First Amendment issue. In reality, these people are often more interested in their right to continue their threatening language than they are in defending any ideas they don’t agree with.Death threats represent a form of violence. Allowing them in so many public online spaces creates a situation where speech is suppressed. This is because rational and logical people are driven from the platforms.As a content creator, I get a regular number of death threats from right-wing people. I know they are right-wing because they always start with words like “libtard” or “communist” and the like.In fact, in my experience the majority of right-wing leaning individuals regularly descend into insults and harassment. In the cases where I politely engage with their argument and provide sources to prove my position, they usually resort to attacking me within two or three exchanges.I recognize that some might say that this is just the way right-wing people talk. They’ve worn out the phrase “locker room” talk as if that’s a justification for being a repugnant person. But this kind of language is both unacceptable and illegal.I grew up in a right-wing community. A lot of my friends ascribed to right-wing beliefs. They often played the game of one-upmanship. This involved responding to a horrible statement by attempting to say something even more extreme. This game often led to brainstorming sessions about horrible ways to murder somebody.It gets to the point where people who are used to hearing such things end up filtering it out. They honestly have no comprehension about how bad they sound or what they’re saying.That being the case, it remains illegal to harass people with death threats.They don’t hear themselves. But the moment any questionable language is directed at them, even if it is less intense by several orders of magnitude, they often escalate to a physical altercation.This is the way that the right talks and interacts with each other. You can see evidence in the way they talk about Sandy Hook or the murder of George Floyd. Look at the way the president talks about anybody who asks him completely reasonable questions that any sitting president should be equipped to answer.Republican leaders often insult people. They often treat everybody with disrespect particularly women, minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The death threats soon follow as can be seen by political ads featuring guns and crosshairs.When it comes to threats of violence, the political right is out of control.There is absolutely nothing equivalent in the behavior of the left.The problem is that this kind of hostile language has real life consequences as can be seen by the terrorist threats against historically black universities, the recent lynchings in the South, and the shootings at several Minneapolis homeless shelters.Online death threats are making the world more dangerous and they have to stop.We have to also understand that this is an issue our kids are facing. I know that as a writer, I've gotten used to it. I expect to be attacked to some degree when I write anything that condemns white supremacy or racism. However, I retain the right to the First Amendment, even if right wing hate groups don't agree with the things I have to say.I’ve become accustomed to not even registering these death threats so I can continue with my work. But as of last week, I've started to keep a file where I take screenshots of every death threat I receive. The issue of right wing death threats is something that I would like the Republican Party to address. Our kids shouldn’t have to be subjected to this kind of disrespectful and hateful language.The left is not out there sending death threats. That’s not how the left behaves. The left relies on reason, facts, and verifiable evidence. The right relies on violence and bullying.The most important thing is that when the left is wrong, they are capable of changing their mind. As of yet, I've seen no such effort that indicates the right is capable of such a thing.We should all be able to agree that it’s time to stop the death threats. They are illegal. We should treat each other with a basic level of dignity.Even those that say we can disagree and still be friends should be inclined to acknowledge that death threats are not part of the equation. We can't have disagreement about threatening language. We can’t allow the kind of language that incites violence and leads to the loss of human life.The right is guilty of this. The left does not use these tactics.It’s time for the threating speech and the death threats to stop. They are all coming from the right.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. 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