Tell HN: I’m scared of sharing my opinion online
by rhasejr on Hacker News.
I guess I’m posting this on this throwaway because of the very topic of this post. I don’t feel safe sharing my true opinion online. I generally find that I’m very distant in belief from a lot of people on social media (reddit, twitter, let alone facebook or whatever, even if I don’t use them). Just to give an example, I couldnt care less about people engaging in incest and find it just an old cultural taboo. Adults are responsible enough to know about the dangers of having children and they can do whatever they want. Say, on reddit (even if some might agree), I would typically get people calling me disgusting, downvoting, going through my post history, attacking me, DMng me, whatnot.
This in itself is not a big deal, but when disliked opinions by the hivemind start to pile, you are seen as an enemy, someone to be sabotaged, followed around and downvoted, etc.
If it links to your real identity? Oh boy. One wrong opinion here in the US is enough to ruin your life.
Ah, i just remembered that article about a mentally challenged guy who dressed as Hitler in halloween and as a result got fired from his 20+ or so year janitor job. Not the same, but I somehow find it relevant in a way. (He was making fun of hitler, he claimed) I’m not unhealthily paranoid, and I’m not someone with outright illegal views. But I don’t fit the right or the left, and so I have no allies, sometimes only enemies. I don’t want to make this too long. I’m venting here because people here are more open minded than in general (even if I feel that’s changing with the years and as more people join here… just me?) Thanks for reading.