美国国家公共电台 NPR In An Increasingly Polarized America, Is It Possible To Be Civil On Social Media?

In An Increasingly Polarized America, Is It Possible To Be Civil On Social Media?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Twitter - a bastion of kindness and empathy; yeah, not so much. If you spend any time on social media, you know it can easily turn into a public brawl¹ full of insults, curse words and vile² threats. And maybe you've found yourself asking, who are these people? Why would anyone write stuff like this? NPR's Jasmine Garsd wondered the same thing. As part of our series on civility and incivility in a polarized America, she set out to meet two people who have done battle in a very noisy public space.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE³: Before I could even interview these guys, I had to agree not to use their real names. The online circle they roll in can get really aggressive. One of them says he's even gotten death threats in the past. They asked to be called Tyler and Larry. They've never met. If they crossed paths on the streets, they wouldn't recognize each other. But almost every day for the last year or so, they've engaged on Twitter. And some of their posts are benign⁴, even wonkish (ph).

LARRY: Privatize Medicare and Medicaid and create a plan to phase out Social Security without ripping off...

GARSD: That's Larry, reading a recent tweet. He's a Trump⁵ supporter on the East Coast. The other one, Tyler, is a liberal.

TYLER: Trump wasn't exonerated⁶ or did you not see that?

GARSD: He lives in Indiana. He's been tweeting a lot lately about the Mueller investigation⁷.

TYLER: You should care more about the country than some orange, racist⁸ peon.

GARSD: OK. So Twitter users, you know. This type of thing rarely ends well. The conversation almost always turns awful. Larry will snap and say...

LARRY: Your idiotic⁹ posts are serious. Get the [expletive] out of here, cretin.

GARSD: ...Which will drive Tyler nuts.

TYLER: Oh, shut the [expletive], you inept¹⁰ [expletive].

GARSD: And it just goes on and on.

LARRY: Everything you tweet is stupid. Now [expletive], moron¹¹.

GARSD: Even Larry can't believe he wrote this.

LARRY: Yeah, I'm not so proud about that.

GARSD: He told me his wife is a liberal.

LARRY: She's never even seen me on Twitter. I'm like, please don't divorce me if you read my tweets because I just sort of shift modes and become - I might call it a troll mode, where I'm not really trying to make a point anymore. I'm just trying to battle. And I don't like that. I don't feel good about it.

GARSD: And Tyler, Larry's liberal Twitter nemesis¹², he knows he goes overboard too.

TYLER: I said, sit the [expletive] down. The adults are talking. That was a low moment.

GARSD: Remember. These guys are two complete strangers, but they've been going at it since last year. And the obvious question is...

TYLER: Why do you even bother? Why are you on that thread?

GARSD: Tyler says it's a question his husband asks a lot. Tyler is a gay man who lives in a conservative state. Even though he says Larry isn't one of them, there are people in his Twitter world who, Tyler says, post really homophobic and racist things. And he's sick of it. Like a lot of Americans, Tyler says he feels the stakes are really high right now. Maybe it's just not the time to be civil on Twitter.

TYLER: If we stop talking about racism¹³, if we stop talking about homophobia and hate towards gays and just everything under the sun, then it goes un-taken care of. It goes to the side that's promoting that.

GARSD: But this constant fighting, Tyler says it takes a toll¹⁴.

TYLER: You find yourself thinking and feeling about the thread, even if you're not on your phone or the computer to where you're having panic attacks or you're hyperventilating.

GARSD: Larry, the conservative, says he doesn't take Twitter so personally. But he's been thinking about quitting. He doesn't always like the way he behaves online. He has trouble breaking away, though. Like, he'll be at a restaurant and on his phone.

LARRY: I'll just think, I just got to send this one last one, you know? And it's, like, taking 10 minutes. And we're - the waitress is tapping her pencil. It's a fun thing to do, right? So every time you send a tweet and you think you made a point, it feels good. And you want to keep doing it.

GARSD: The pleasure and anxiety they're both describing, there's a growing body of scientific research on this topic that suggests social media can have addictive¹⁵ qualities, just like a drug or a gambling¹⁶ habit. Consider the very nature of Twitter. It's more public than other media platforms. It's easier to just jump into an argument and pile on, so the whole thing can be very performative. More than talking, we're showing ourselves off. Larry says that's not why he joined.

LARRY: The reason I joined was to have enlightening discussion. And that's the frustration¹⁷ is that there's no mindshare. It just always seems to blow up. And at that point, it just becomes two trolls trolling one another.

GARSD: Even though I interviewed them separately, both men came to a similar conclusion.

TYLER: You'd have a better chance of solving your issues over a beer or a meal than sitting behind a phone, typing - in caps - your point across.

LARRY: You know, we used to have barbecues and - liberals and conservatives. And if you're my neighbor, come over and eat and drink. You know, Twitter just is not good for that kind of thing, I think.

GARSD: And if they were sitting at that barbecue, they'd be able to see all the things they can't see on Twitter - a hurt look, a furrowed¹⁸ brow, a face flushed with embarrassment¹⁹. Two-hundred-eighty characters, hashtags and memes might just not be enough for the difficult conversations we need to have right now. Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF SAXON SHORE'S "WITH A RED SUIT YOU WILL BECOME A MAN")

1 brawl   

n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂

参考例句：

• They had nothing better to do than brawl in the street.他们除了在街上斗殴做不出什么好事。
• I don't want to see our two neighbours engaged in a brawl.我不希望我们两家吵架吵得不可开交。

2 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 exonerated   

v.使免罪，免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The police report exonerated Lewis from all charges of corruption. 警方的报告免除了对刘易斯贪污的所有指控。
• An investigation exonerated the school from any blame. 一项调查证明该学校没有任何过失。 来自辞典例句

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

9 idiotic   

adj.白痴的

参考例句：

• It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。
• The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。

10 inept   

adj.不恰当的，荒谬的，拙劣的

参考例句：

• Whan an inept remark to make on such a formal occasion.在如此正式的场合，怎么说这样不恰当的话。
• He's quite inept at tennis.他打网球太笨。

11 moron   

n.极蠢之人，低能儿

参考例句：

• I used to think that Gordon was a moron.我曾以为戈登是个白痴。
• He's an absolute moron!他纯粹是个傻子！

12 nemesis   

n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手

参考例句：

• Uncritical trust is my nemesis.盲目的相信一切害了我自己。
• Inward suffering is the worst of Nemesis.内心的痛苦是最厉害的惩罚。

13 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

14 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

15 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

16 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

17 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

18 furrowed   

v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Overhead hung a summer sky furrowed with the rash of rockets. 头顶上的夏日夜空纵横着急疾而过的焰火。 来自辞典例句
• The car furrowed the loose sand as it crossed the desert. 车子横过沙漠，在松软的沙土上犁出了一道车辙。 来自辞典例句

19 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。