Since the terror attack in Christchurch, the government and mainstream media have been pushing the line that reporting on ‘hate speech’ will make New Zealand safer. In reality, supporting a Snitch culture on social media will make New Zealand less safe.
Snitching appeals to a certain kind of person. It is a similar mindset to that of the town gossip. Snitches enjoy wielding power over others and revealing secrets. They get a buzz out of blackening a person’s name. Snitching for a perceived higher good is even better as it gives the Snitch a veneer of virtue. Finally, they can snoop to their heart’s content under the guise of stamping out ‘Hate speech’.
Hate speech, of course, is not a legal term and has no accepted definition. As our PM infamously said, we will know it when we see it. Unfortunately, Snitches like the person behind the TheBlocklistNZ twitter account thinks that any criticism of political Islam or of the religion of Islam is Islamophobia and therefore hate speech.
What Snitches determine to be hate speech varies wildly from Snitch to Snitch. People’s reputations will be blackened, in some cases, for simply pressing the like button.
Then there is the issue of Free speech. Snitches might not like other people’s views on social media but, as long as what they say is within the law, where the hell do they get away with attempting to silence them through what amounts to intimidation and social shaming.
The most important point about Snitches however, is how they make us all less safe. Already in New Zealand, amongst those on the conservative and classic liberal side of politics, people are experiencing a kind of bunker mentality.
Conservatives are now aware that their every word is being scrutinised, analysed and collated by teams of media and academic Snitches working together to make lists. Conservatives are all hunkering down inside their bunkers waiting for the next bit of censorship to hit and the next conservative star to be imprisoned, deplaformed and defamed.
Some will get sick of having to watch their every word so they will instead go underground so that they can share their views in private, undetected and unmolested.
Driving people to express their view out of the public eye does not make the world a safer place. It makes it much more dangerous. Hidden groups of people who feel marginalised and discriminated against can lead to a radicalisation of what were previously mainstream conservative views. This is how extremists are created.
Our intelligence experts work hard to keep us safe by monitoring social media and other channels. They need extremists to feel unafraid and safe to express their views if they are to catch them and prevent terror attacks.
Social Media Snitches harm us by victimising people and driving extremists underground, out of the reach of our spy agencies.
