Weekly Quiz!: Daily Brief

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April 18, 2024
By Andrew Stroehlein
Contact me at DailyBriefTeam@hrw.org and Twitter @astroehlein.

In today's Daily Brief:

Using Social Media Responsibly
Weekly Quiz!
Quick Takes: Bombing Culture; Climate Crisis
Readers’ Recommendations
Support Our Work!

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In a twitter post, Andrew Stroehlein describes the rules he uses to block people on social media. © Andrew Stroehlein

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The ABCs of Blocking

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my thousands of hours on social media over the years, it’s this: block early, block often.

I have a personal set of “blocking rules” I post frequently – on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, and Twitter/X – explaining who gets blocked. For example, when I see someone in my replies supporting war crimes - boom, instant block. Pushing the propaganda lines of abusive governments? Block. Flinging hate? Block.

But wait, some say, aren’t you a human rights guy? Don’t you believe in freedom of speech?

Of course, I believe in freedom of speech. But just because someone is free to speak, does not mean I am obligated to listen to them – nor share their ideas.

There’s a responsibility I feel I have – that we all have – when using social media. We can control parts of these online spaces, and like a micro-editor of a micro-publication, we get to decide what we want our readers to see, and not to see.

Not only do we have control over our own posts and replies, we have some control over the replies of others. And for both: control implies responsibility. Blocking accounts that are spreading poisonous ideas in the replies to your social media posts is simply responsible behavior.

This always becomes an issue for me when I post about ongoing conflicts. Yesterday, I saw it in replies to social media posts linking to my latest Daily Brief article on Israel/Palestine, but it happens with every conflict. I block people who still seem to think the laws of war and other standards should only apply to the “other side” and not to “their side.”

Defending atrocities is appalling. Those who do so are denying the suffering of innocent individuals, and in doing so, they are denying the fundamental humanity of everyone, including themselves, actually.

In a way, it’s not their fault, of course. Conflicts can negatively impact people’s brains, push their minds into vicious desires for, or at least acceptance of, revenge and punishment, even of the innocent.

But that doesn’t mean I want to see their verbal violence and incitement to hatred in social media replies. And I don’t want my inaction to help such ugliness spread.

So, yes, I block people on social media. Often. I encourage you to do the same.

A statue of 18th-century Ukrainian philosopher and poet Hryhorii Skovoroda stands amidst the ruins of a museum and memorial dedicated to him in Skovorodynivka in the Kharkivska region of Ukraine. The building was destroyed when a munition fired by Russian forces hit the roof on May 6, 2022, sparking a major fire. © 2022 Sergey Kozlov/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Quick Takes: Bombing Culture; Climate Crisis

Bombing Culture: You likely need no convincing that bombing and shelling cities and towns during armed conflict is disastrous for civilians. But think, too, about the devastating consequences bombing has for cultural heritage. A new report looks at the impacts of explosive weapons on museums, archives, theatres, and other cultural buildings.

Climate Crisis: Last year, countries agreed to begin “transitioning away from fossil fuels.” If governments are to comply, there cannot be any new expansion of coal, oil, and gas production, like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. HRW is calling on insurance firms to stop providing support for the project.