Finally, There Is Just 1 Opinion

Published in Wiener Zeitung
(Austria) on 21 February 2022
by Christina Böck (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Kirsty Low. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
People forget so quickly. In the case of Donald Trump, a bad memory can sometimes be a blessing. But sometimes you have to remember. To remember, for example, why Trump was actually “permanently suspended” from Twitter. That happened at the start of 2021. A mob had just stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent attack, in which five police officers lost their lives.

These events were preceded by many tweets from the president, who had been voted out, but was still in office. He spoke of election fraud and roused his supporters — after all, he had more than 87 million followers. That led to an act that, up until that point, was unprecedented. Twitter blocked a U.S. president because the “risk of further incitement of violence” was too large.

Trump responded much like a toddler would respond; he announced that he was creating his own platform. It is now being launched and is called “TRUTH Social.” That is fitting for someone who believes he has exclusive rights to the truth — notwithstanding the objective reality. The latter, of course, has long since become unimportant on social media, which is becoming ever more fragmented. On a downward spiral starting with Telegram, people stay in their own circles with their own opinions and alternative realities. Society’s divisions are present in the virtual worlds. Maybe everyone should simply launch their own platform. Then, once and for all, people will no longer have to listen to other people.


Endlich nur noch eine Meinung

Man vergisst ja so schnell. Im Fall von Donald Trump ist ein schlechtes Gedächtnis mitunter auch eine Gnade. Aber manchmal muss man sich doch erinnern. Zum Beispiel, warum genau eigentlich Trump von Twitter "dauerhaft blockiert" wurde. Das passierte Anfang 2021, ein Mob hatte gerade das Kapitol in Washington gestürmt, fünf Polizisten ließen bei diesem gewaltsamen Angriff ihr Leben. Dem waren viele Tweets des noch amtierenden, aber bereits abgewählten Präsidenten vorausgegangen. Er sprach von Wahlbetrug und hetzte seine Anhänger - er hatte immerhin mehr als 87 Millionen Follower - auf. Das führte zum bis dahin beispiellosen Akt: Twitter sperrte einen US-Präsidenten, weil "das Risiko weiterer Anstiftung zur Gewalt" zu groß war.

Trump reagierte, wie Menschen mit dem Verhalten eines Kleinkinds nun einmal reagieren: Er kündigte eine eigene Plattform an. Die geht nun tatsächlich online und heißt "Truth Social". Das passt für jemanden, der der Meinung ist, die Wahrheit für sich gepachtet zu haben - ungeachtet einer objektiven Wirklichkeit. Letztere spielt freilich schon länger keine Rolle mehr in den immer weiter zersplitterten Sozialen Medien, von Telegram abwärts bleibt man nur noch in den eigenen Kreisen mit den eigenen Meinungen und alternativen Realitäten. In den virtuellen Weiten gibt es sie, die Spaltung der Gesellschaft. Vielleicht sollte einfach jeder eine neue Plattform gründen. Dann hat bald jeder eine eigene und muss endgültig keinem anderen mehr zuhören.
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