AUSTRALIA hadn’t heard of Tennys Sandgren until this week, and now we think we know him well.
Why? Twitter told us so.
The American tennis player, who beat eighth seed Dominic Thiem in the Australian Open quarterfinals on Monday, is doubtlessly a white supremacist, an anti-Semite and an anti-Muslim bigot.
Forget his surprise win, the 26-year-old has been criticised for following certain people on Twitter, including white supremacist Nicholas Fuentes, who attended the Charlottesville rally that turned violent in last year.
Sandgren says it doesn’t matter who he follows, and he’s right.
“To say, well, he’s following X person, so he believes all the things that this person believes, it’s ridiculous. What information you see doesn’t dictate what you think or believe,” he said.
While Sandgren denies supporting far-right theories, he admits some of the content is interesting.
And what’s wrong with that?
In a blow for objectivity, social media has swiftly achieved something traditional media has fought to avoid — polarising people into opposing groups that hate on each other.
Let’s say you comment favourably online about something former prime minister Tony Abbott might have said or done. You’re automatically branded a right-wing extremist who voted against same-sex marriage.
Side with Bill Shorten on anything, at all, and you’re a diehard lefty who supports union thuggery.
Read the full article written by Kylie Lang at Perth Now.