F Joe Biden And F Donald Trump Trending Is Our Division Getting Worse?

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Social media users have focused on both Donald Trump and Joe Biden in recent weeks (Photos by JIM … [+] WATSON and SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON, SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

The AFP via Getty Images

It started earlier this month at college football games across the United States singing the song “F ** K Joe Biden.” It has since spread to professional sports and was sadly heard in a New York City “Subway Series” match between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets staged on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The chant exploded even more last weekend at Ryder’s Cup, the golf team’s long -awaited title. While fans cheered as the United States beat Europe 19-9 in the biennial competition, across social media the actual victory was essentially overshadowed by videos of fans shouting “F ** k Joe Biden” on stands.

As a result of the chants, throughout September “F Joe Biden” was trending in increasing order on Twitter, and on Tuesday had 100,000 tweets. Unexpectedly it brought out the worst from both sides:

However, we now see that as “F Joe Biden” is starting to trend so is “F Donald Trump.”

For years there have been complaints that Americans have failed to pay too much attention to politics, but now thanks to social media it seems a very vibrant segment of the population that only pays attention to politics, and misses no opportunity to listen to their opinion. As a result it has turned some of the social platforms that notice Twitter into a 24/7 propaganda machine where sentiments unleash the worst.

“Unfortunately in the last four or five years political discourse has bled into American culture as a whole,” explains Jason Mollica, a lecturer in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, DC.

“Social media has become a place where politicians and their followers can voice their opinions,” Mollica said, “but its addition has become divisive and hostile. When Donald Trump was president many hatred was directed at him, but he also used the platform to target the ones he issued. Now the same level of hatred is directed at Joe Biden. “

A Vocal Minority

The fact that some 200,000 to 300,000 tweets in the past day were related to Trump or Biden is remarkable for a couple of reasons. To the casual observer it seems the masses are genuinely political and hostile. But this is still a handful in the grand scheme of things, and instead they just drown out all the other discussions of the day.

“When we see these types of topics trending it’s from the usual suspects,” Mollica added. “It’s from the elements of the far right or the far left, and sometimes it’s still hard to get away from being negative. I’m really not discouraged by what social media has become because everyone else has caught up. Social media is there was the potential for a sharing of news and information and to bring up topics that didn’t get attention, but instead it became a place where this discourse was too common. ”

One factor is that social media makes it easier to be negative than positive.

Mollica also said it’s not really limited to politics, and unfortunately Twitter has become an anti-social network to destroy the other side on many issues.

“You can’t go on Twitter on a football Sunday without seeing this kind of negativity,” he explains. “Twitter took what sports radio talk was, and now sports radio talk on steroids!”

The Latest Meme

Another consideration in recent “F ** k Joe Biden” chants is whether everyone in the stadiums really shares that feeling. This could be a case where the chants have become similar to a politicized version of “The Wave” or other fan -based activities.

“For most fans they were there for the game,” said Mollica, who also mentioned how times have changed.

“I think of the singing of recent subway series in New York, and that’s very different from when President Bush threw out a sound after 9/11 and advised people,” he explains. Mollica. “Now you have chants of ‘F Joe Biden’ and take that away from the importance of the day. Some may have joined the parade and thought it would get laughter on social media. But this is just one example of what our society has become. . “

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