February 19, 2017

_Kurtis Dunlap is a fifth-year senior at MU. He is an English major who writes about student life as an opinion columnist for The Maneater._

Social media has created an instant-access society. We can react to live news, events and other worldly things in real time. Social media has also connected humans more than we have ever been connected. Although it has made our lives easier in some ways, we cannot forget the power it has.

Doug Adler was a tennis commentator for ESPN. He had worked at the company since 2008. He was also a tennis ex-pro. Adler was fired from ESPN because he used the phrase “guerilla effect” when he was calling a second-round matchup between Venus Williams and Stefanie Vogele at the Australian Open this past year.

Adler claims that he was using the term “guerilla,” not “gorilla,” which would have a completely different meaning and implication. He apologized on-air and said he was referring to the type of warfare, not the animal. He left work and didn’t think twice about the instance until he showed up the next day.

Ben Rothenberg, a writer for the New York Times, found the clip and tweeted out, in reference to Adler’s comments, “This is some appalling stuff. Horrifying that the Williams sisters remain subjected to it still in 2017. #AusOpen” This short tweet all but ended Adler’s career at ESPN.

The mainstream media quickly jumped on the story because of the polarization of the topic of race, and the media backlash was so strong that ESPN felt it was easier to distance itself from Adler than look into the matter further. The power that social media has and the carelessness with which we can use it can destroys people’s reputations faster than it takes to hit send.

Rothenberg’s tweet, whether he understood what form of the word Adler was using or not, was enough to raise such an outrage that someone had to lose their job before anyone even knew the facts. When you go on social media and declare or claim that someone is something, without evidence or proper cause, people can get hurt and their lives can be affected.

It may have taken Rothenberg three minutes to type that tweet. In those three minutes, he destroyed a man’s career and reputation by essentially calling him a racist. Rothenberg didn’t call or contact Adler or even stop to think about the idea that he was actually using the word “guerilla” and not “gorilla.” He jumped on his Twitter account and claimed racism.

It is a polarizing time in America, and being called a racist is something no one wants. To have the power at one’s fingertips to be able to claim that someone is a racist without due diligence, and thus result in their firing, shows the power that social media has given us. Everyone is looking for the next “hot topic” or to be on the forefront of social change, so much so that they can jump to conclusions and harm someone’s reputation.

We need to start taking social media seriously, because what we post can affect our lives and the lives of others.

Social media is a very powerful tool. All it takes is for the right person to retweet something and it will spread like wildfire and “trend” before anyone knows what happened. In the age of “fake news,” we have to be even more diligent in what we are spreading around. We have to start being responsible for what we are tweeting and think about the consequences that our messages could have. In the words of Herm Edwards, “Don’t press send.”

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