Twitter Wars

Guthrie vs. Elliot

  As the popularity of social media continues to rise, the interactions between users continue to create bigger impacts: some positive such as hashtag movements that spread awareness for different causes, others not too good.  In this case, Gregory Elliot, a father, and a freelance editor was sent to jail for several charges of criminal harassment all from tweets against a group of feminism advocates. Although Elliot's charges against him were dropped months later, the fight between different users continues to occur on a regular basis.

     Personally, I believe the persecutors accused Guthrie of harassment to show their strength with the law and ultimately. that they were right.  Situations often escalate especially when at the heat of the moment.  During arguments like these, both sides want to prove their dominance over the other.  Although I'm not fully against debates and arguments over social media platforms,  I believe that heated arguments should be recognized by the users and should be stopped immediately, whether it means the two settling their differences or each user avoiding a bigger argument by letting it go.
     Both parties had valid points in their cases, but were in the wrong for each of their actions.  Guthrie, the main prosecutor, rightfully felt uncomfortable after all Elliot had done for her, and Elliot wasn't wrong in believing he hadn't done anything lawfully wrong to her.  In this situation, the legal court should have never been involved, but the two are to blame for the hassle of the whole process.  I believe no one was right, but one should have stepped up and created peace.
      Some actions, posts, or tweets should be punishable by the law, depending on the severity of the situation.  Banter over users should be kept online.  Some controversial posts could stay online, but some should definitely be punished by the law.  Since the internet allows anyone to connect to other people in seconds around the world, users can communicate with anyone with ease.  With this comes users who use the internet to carry out criminal activities.  Some online activities that should concern the police include threats, hacking scandals, and harassment.