What do Stephen King, Chrissy Teigen, and a freshman from Georgetown have in common?
They were all blocked by the President of the United States on Twitter.
On March 29th, 2018, the Class of 2021 group chat broke out with the news one of their member had been blocked after a series of tweet directed at Trump. The president’s action had been uncalled for, and had resulted in a general sense of amusement. The Gazette team quickly decided to have a conversation with student X (who requested to be anonymous) to find out how this all unfold.
Hi X. How did you get blocked by Donald Trump? How did you feel afterward?
I got blocked by Donald Trump, because I sent him a photo of my shirt – which has his famous pose, with the eyes crossed out, and replaced by “SHITHOLE”. That shirt was partially in retaliation for the amount of times Twitter has kindly suspended my account after insulting Trump or his followers, but part of it was because I just… didn’t expect him to see that shirt? It was literally just done for the fun of it. Then I check, and boom, I’m blocked from viewing Trump’s tweets. So when he calls African countries things like that, it’s fine, and when I wear a shirt (not even tweet that word), it’s not? He had it coming, though.
In your opinion, what does Trump’s action say about him, or his presidency, or US politics in general?
Jokes aside, I don’t think you can be a decent president, when you declare crucial information {for example, the firing of Rex Tillerson} via Twitter. There is supposed to be some form of formality, and the current President certainly lacks that, I’m afraid. He blocks many leftists, or centrists with left-like policies or opinions, posts contradicting, or confidential information, and occasionally tweets like a five-year old. I cannot view someone as qualified, who acts like this. He is also constantly deluded about the state of his country, and fools himself into thinking he has more support than he does. I am not a fan of US politics, simply because of the polarisation. You are either a Democrat, or a Republican. You either believe in X, or you are not a member of this party. There is heavy room for grey area, but the US politics has been increasingly black and white.
You have a very active online presence. What kind of content do you often post (and why)?
My twitter is really just a mess of what I want to say. I stress often on politics, human rights, and problems with my mental health, but at the same time I post about the bands I enjoy listening to, or just random opinions (milk before cereal). It’s not really dedicated to anything, it’s just an outlet for me, and for my random thoughts.
Do you think Twitter, or social media in general, is a good outlet for political discussion? How is it different from real life?
Depends. Social media certainly has educated me (I was recently having a discussion about something I did not know, and I got informed quickly). However, the problem is, is engaging in a debate with people who do not want to learn. People who refuse to learn, cannot learn. There isn’t any way through it. If you are not open to new ideas, literally any debate is futile. In real life, debates tend to be marked by physical movements, so you can read the person’s body language, and understand when to drop the topic. I guess, however, on social media you can block a person though, which in itself is an advantage real life doesn’t have.
The Georgetown Gazette Team