What Role Did Social Media Play In The Capitol Riots?

“Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.” ― Megan Whalen Turner, The King of Attolia. On January 6, 2021, a riot broke out by the capitol building. Former President Trump was giving a speech a few moments before. Towards the end of the speech, he told everyone at the rally to march up East Capitol street. He also tweeted at that time that he was going to march up to the capitol building, to steal the electoral college votes. Social media played a huge role in the riot because social media is a big factor in people’s choices and social media can help reach out to more people. 

Social media played a dominant role in the capitol riots. Social media is a big factor in people's choices. Media is something that people feed into. After reading, they can be peer pressured into making a certain decision. The article “ Peer Pressure and Teens” from “Secure Teen,” this article is about teens being pressured by what they see on social media. The text states, “Social media has given peer pressure the power to ruin the lives of kids who feel pressured to do things mainly because all their friends are doing them.” Even though this article is talking about teens, this issue can also go into adult life. When adults are on social media and they see that someone they look up to is constantly tweeting about going to the capitol, and they see all these people going to, it makes them want to do it too. They know it’s not the right thing, but the person they look up to is doing it and he’s the President for right now, so why shouldn’t you listen to him. The article “Election 2020” from “The University Of Tulsa,” the article is about how social media impacts the election. The text states, “The pandemic has thrown most of our interactions online rather than face to face. This fact has given social media an additional degree of reach and power in 2020 compared to earlier elections. At the same time, however, it is vital to stress that most of our favorite hypotheses about social media — social media will throw the election in one direction, social media is destroying or saving American public discourse — will ultimately miss the mark.” This article is saying how because of this pandemic, everything became online, which has given social media a lot of power in the sense of how to keep in contact with one another. However, with social media being very popular at the moment and a lot of people getting their news from the media, during the election, the media can help people make their decisions on the election. The media can show you all of the good of one and all the bad of the other. This is another way of being pressured subconsciously, voting for someone you’re seeing all the good and all the bad of the other. that you will want to vote for the one who is all good. You always need to make sure you have other sources when you’re making a big decision. 

Social media played a dominant role in the Capitol riots social media can help reach out to more people. Right before the riot happened, former President Trump had posted on Twitter. He wanted to post about how the Democrats stole the election. The tweets said, “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” His tweeting is implying that he is going to be doing something about it. He said he won’t let them steal it, so this was his way to lure his supporters, so they could all do something about it. In a text that Shaimonyai read, “WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump, in a video message posted to social media, told supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in a chaotic protest aimed at thwarting a peaceful transfer of power to "go home" but kept up false election attacks and called backers "very special."Former President Trump's Post on Twitter is the reason people came out in the first place. Trump using his platform made people leave their homes to go to this riot. Twitter and social media was a big way for Trump to talk to his supporters before he got banned. Trump was able to reach out to more people, and inform them about this event by posting on social media. 

People are responsible for their actions. Even if they see something somewhere, or someone tells them what to do, they can easily just say no and not do it. Yes, people are indeed responsible for their actions, but they could always feel pressured into doing so. Peer pressure is a big thing happening, which makes people do something that they know isn’t right but will still do it. They could always just be doing it because they see other people doing similar things, so they want to join in. How can social media be the main cause? Social media is just apps that people can use to connect. While it is true that social media is just a bunch of apps that people use, social media is the main way for people to know about things. If there were no social media, then Trump wouldn’t have been able to tweet and the whole riot at the capitol wouldn’t have happened because Trump wouldn’t have been able to get enough people in that amount of time. 

While the media may not be the only cause of the riot, it sure is the main cause. When it comes to social media, there are a lot of negative things that come along with it, and being able to get in touch with thousands of people and create a riot is one of them. In conclusion, social media plays a main role in the cause of the riot.