{"id":8544,"date":"2014-08-22T16:31:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T16:31:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-08-22T16:31:54","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T16:31:54","slug":"social_media_and_anonymity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/08\/22\/social_media_and_anonymity\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media and Anonymity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: I mentioned yesterday<\/a> that the doctor who was part of the missionary engagement over in Africa, Kent Brantly, who contracted Ebola, was brought back to the US with a coworker, Nancy Writebol. They were given this super-secret special serum to combat Ebola that is grown exclusively in a tobacco plant in Kentucky. I mean, that\u2019s the primary source material for the serum. <\/p>\n

Anyway, he was released from the hospital yesterday. He\u2019s totally recovered. No more Ebola. He had a press conference and I mentioned after I\u2019d seen it, it\u2019s been a long time, it\u2019s been many years since we\u2019ve seen something like this in this country. This guy went out, it was all God, all the time. He thanked God for his recovery, talked about prayers. I mean, there\u2019s no question he\u2019s a Christian missionary. But he didn\u2019t hide it. He did not camouflage it. He was bold and out front with his Christianity. There was no fear whatsoever. <\/p>\n

And my point, we don\u2019t see this anymore. We don\u2019t see public recognitions of and devotion to God, because it\u2019s laughed at and mocked and made fun of. Even that\u2019s been politicized, you see. Yeah, only pro-life, wacko, nutcase right wingers believe in God. They\u2019re the only ones that do. And nobody wants to be thought of as a Looney Toon, right winger, pro-lifer kook. And so nobody talks about God, even religious people, other than evangelists and media preachers and so forth. But just average citizens, they don\u2019t bring it up. <\/line><\/p>\n

Look what happened the other day in school, in Tennessee. A student sneezes, a female student shouts, “Bless you!” She gets suspended, \u2019cause the teacher says (paraphrasing), “We\u2019re not gonna have godly stuff like that in my classroom. There\u2019s no blessing anybody in this classroom.” The teacher suspended the student. The student had to spend the rest of the suspension period in the principal\u2019s office. There\u2019s no praying or referencing of God at commencement ceremonies. Pledge of Allegiance, can\u2019t do that. High school football games, no reference, no prayers, pregame prayers. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s very, very odd to see somebody just come out and unabashedly express their love and thanks for God. And as a result of this, there is absolute fury on Twitter. There is fury and anger all over the social media directed at Kent Brantly. His was a feel-good story, and it wasn\u2019t that long ago that what he said would not have been controversial at all. In fact, it would have been quite normal. It was not that long ago that things like what he did yesterday were pretty much part of the national fabric. An open expression of belief in God, a public acknowledgement and thanks, prayer and this kind of thing. <\/p>\n

But of course it\u2019s just been under assault and under attack for a generation, maybe more, intensely. And now there\u2019s a lot of fear, and people hide even their Christianity because it\u2019s becoming politicized, as everything is. And so Twitter, they just lit the guy up. They called him, I mean, the names on these things. You know, Walter Isaacson, let me run an idea by you. <\/p>\n

<\/a>Walter Isaacson, who wrote the biography of Steve Jobs<\/a> and Benjamin Franklin<\/a>, couple of others, used to be managing editor at TIME. He is now head of the Aspen Institute, which is headquartered in Washington, but they have their meetings in Aspen. It\u2019s kind of a cool gig. And he used to, for a short time, run CNN. He had a piece that ran on the Aspen Institute website that TIME Magazine reprinted on their website yesterday<\/a>, and it had to do with the notion of privacy versus anonymity. <\/p>\n

He tried to make the case that the two are entirely different things but that many people are confusing them and that they\u2019re wrong. People who think that privacy equals anonymity are wrong. Anonymity is one thing. Privacy is quite another. But he made the point that he doesn\u2019t like all this anonymity, particularly on social media. And he has a theory, and his theory is quite simple. That if you couldn\u2019t say things without anybody knowing who you are, you wouldn\u2019t say over half of what you say. <\/p>\n

If you had no anonymity, I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s Twitter or if it\u2019s in the barbershop or wherever, if anonymity were eliminated, if everybody had to be identified by their real name on these places, that it would clean up all of this drivel and all of this obscenity and all of this just mindless, senseless, gutter-filled rhetoric that shows up, not just on Twitter, but in the comment sections of a lot of websites. <\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t propose anything. He didn\u2019t propose mandatory — didn\u2019t propose government get involved. It was just him ruminating and thinking that it might be something that would raise the level of discourse. Everybody talks about civility and how we\u2019re losing civility. And his theory is one of the reasons why is that you can say whatever you want in so many places in this country with nobody knowing who you are. And the moment people know who you are, you will not say some of the trash, you won\u2019t talk some of the trash that you talk. <\/line><\/p>\n

I started the piece, I was prepared to reject it when I started it because it\u2019s a thin line, anonymity, privacy. And one of the reasons I was prepared to reject it is I\u2019ve often said if there\u2019s one thing I could have back that I\u2019ve lost in life, it\u2019s anonymity. I would love to be anonymous, I can\u2019t tell you. But of course it\u2019s impossible. I\u2019m on the radio. My chosen profession, I have to wave anonymity good-bye. I mean, it\u2019s senseless to even dream about it. It\u2019s simply not possible. But it doesn\u2019t mean that I can and do dream about it. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not because I want to post stuff. It\u2019s not because I want to say things without anybody knowing. I want my name attached to what I say, \u2019cause I\u2019m proud of what I say. I love hearing myself say what I say. I\u2019m proud of what I think. I believe it, and I want everybody to hear it. But there are times where I\u2019d like anonymous, not because I don\u2019t want people to know what I\u2019m saying, but for other reasons. It\u2019s not possible. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

<\/a>RUSH: Oh, yeah. On Twitter they\u2019re calling Kent Brantly names like douchebag, and that\u2019s minor compared to some of the names they\u2019re calling him. And then you\u2019ve got some of the snarky, “Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, God decides to save the white doctor but let hundreds of blacks die from Ebola. What kind of God is your God, Brantly?” It\u2019s just vicious stuff, and it\u2019s all anonymous. And that\u2019s why this piece by Walter Isaacson. <\/p>\n

He starts out using Uber as his example. He said, “One of the many cool things about Uber is that it allows passengers to rate the driver.” And so the driver, because he knows he\u2019s gonna be rated, behaves politely, very nice, very friendly. But in addition to that, you know what? The drivers can rate the passengers. And so if passengers get poor ratings, drivers don\u2019t want to carry them, don\u2019t want to drive them, take up the account. <\/p>\n

His point is that when everybody is being rated, everybody\u2019s more civil. You\u2019re likely to be a bit nicer. The world becomes slightly more civil, Isaacson says. You\u2019ve heard the old saw, that character is what you do when nobody\u2019s looking? Character\u2019s how you behave when nobody\u2019s looking? The same thing with morality. That\u2019s actually traceable back to Plato in The Republic<\/a> who was ruminating about it philosophically and how you define goodness and decency and so forth. <\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s a fascinating piece. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: So, anyway, I think there\u2019s something to this. If everybody who posted something on the Internet had to be identified by who they really are… I\u2019m not suggesting it, but I think the theory is true that if everybody had to go by who they really are, their true identity, that you\u2019d have a lot less of this. I mean, folks, it\u2019s just guttural out there on social media, and it\u2019s expanding left and right.<\/p>\n

Not just Twitter and Facebook, but comments on various websites. Some people are affected by it psychologically. Some people read this stuff and think, “My God, what\u2019s happening to our country? Has it always been this way? Have we always had this many stupid people out there? Have people always been this vulgar?” People don\u2019t have the answers to that because there hasn\u2019t been any way to measure it until now.<\/p>\n

So you don\u2019t know if it\u2019s simply allowing the people who\u2019ve always been this way to finally come out and behave this way, or if it has creating this new level of uncivil discourse. Some people get concerned about it. The dangerous slope is that thin line between anonymity and privacy. They\u2019re not the same thing, but what if they became the same thing? That would be a distinct problem. <\/p>\n

Anyway, I just found it fascinating because this poor doctor was just ripped to shreds simply for thanking God that he\u2019s still alive. You know, it\u2019s one thing that you can disagree with the guy\u2019s religion. People have different beliefs. It\u2019s one thing to say you don\u2019t believe in God, but, man, when you get so angry and upset by people who do, especially Brantly! Brantley\u2019s harmless.<\/p>\n

Brantly\u2019s not using God as an excuse to kill people. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s doing the exact opposite. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s all quite illustrative. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: I mentioned yesterday that the doctor who was part of the missionary engagement over in Africa, Kent Brantly, who contracted Ebola, was brought back to the US with a coworker, Nancy Writebol. They were given this super-secret special serum to combat Ebola that is grown exclusively in a tobacco plant in Kentucky. 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