> Check out what happened in Rwanda. This one random guy was going on the radio and spewing hate and lies, encouraging people to pick up machetes and kill their neighbors and family members based on this nuanced, arbitrary colonial racial construct.
> It went viral.
What?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide
> The genocide was planned by members of the core Hutu political elite, many of whom occupied positions at top levels of the national government. Perpetrators came from the Rwandan army, the Gendarmerie, and government-backed militias including the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi.
[..]
> The RPF military campaign had resulted in some intensified support for the so-called "Hutu Power" ideology, which portrayed the RPF as an alien force. In radio programs and other news, the Tutsis were portrayed as non-Christian, intent on reinstating the Tutsi monarchy and enslaving the Hutus. Many Hutu reacted to this prospect with extreme opposition. In the lead-up to the genocide, the number of machetes imported into Rwanda increased.
> On 6 April 1994, an aeroplane carrying Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down on its descent into Kigali. At the time, the plane was in the airspace above Habyarimana's house. The assassination of Habyarimana ended the peace accords.
> Genocidal killings began the following day. Soldiers, police, and militia quickly executed key Tutsi and moderate Hutu military and political leaders who could have assumed control in the ensuing power vacuum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Civil_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Revolution
I didn't read all that right now, but just reading some it's very obvious that to just sum it up as "this one random guy on the radio going viral with racist rants" and the rest following from that -- instead of the radio broadcasts being part of something that was already underway -- is kinda stunning. Especially in this context, preparing the ground for shutting up random people, because what they say might go viral and lead to genocide. You called it "a hashtag version of this", after all, of what you claim caused the Rwandan genocide.
Who was this random guy? Who told you this story, or where do you have it from? How did this claim go viral, that one random guy on Rwanda ranted on the radio, and it ended in genocide?
> I do believe that the relative diversity of today's public internet forums is a safeguard against this
If anything, it's people on the ground, in real life, living together, that would innoculate them against people on the radio or on the web telling them how other people are and what they will do if not attacked first. FWIW, the internet seems less diverse in spirit than it was, we used to be small groups of totally random people who had to get along and get to know each other, because we couldn't just block everyone or drive them off.