I want to react to it, my hands itch. I want to say that I don't agree.
But it's pointless.
How do you deal with discrimination on social media?
It happened to me on Instagram that an account started to follow me.
With two followers, you know, one of those anonymous, sketchy accounts.
And he had spammed my whole page with the word negro, negro.
Or, I don't know, jokes about negroes.
I woke up and saw it and I started to remove all those reactions.
I didn't tell my friends because I thought: Okay, this is really strange.
You can't do anything about it because you don't know who it is.
It's very cowardly, from behind an anonymous account.
That's when people dare to do a lot of things, on the internet.
Especially anonymously.
My Instagram profile is public.
I'm a freelance journalist and I want to be available.
But as a consequence I receive certain nasty messages.
These are usually sexually tinted comments by white men
who are making jokes about me for no other reason than that they can have a laugh.
When I read it, I think: Dude, was that really necessary?
I remove it and forget about it, but it happens very frequently.
By frequently, I mean weekly that I receive such a message.
It doesn't have to be sexual
it can also have to do with ridiculing me about my looks, particularly my headscarf.
I had indirect friendship requests on Facebook by old men in their fifties.
They asked; Do you want to meet up? This is my number.
So that's this image of Asian women as lust objects.
I have experienced that, for instance.
Online, you find a lot of anti-Semitism.
Also in the form of memes and jokes which are meant to be funny.
Many people don't understand that it isn't funny
and even use these things to actively hurt people.
For example, I've been in situations
where I posted a comment under a photo by someone I go to school with
and subsequently I was sent all kinds of anti-Semitic memes.
I was really shocked and I found it very unpleasant.
These people have never been made to account for it.
I filed a complaint with the school and they did nothing with it
because people don't take such jokes seriously and say: It's just a joke.
We can't forbid people to make jokes.
I don't want to forbid anyone to crack a joke.
I just don't want people to target me for the fact that I'm Jewish.
If you want to criticise me or you want to pick a fight with me
or you disagree with me, just voice what's bothering you
instead of doing such vicious and unpleasant things.
And use the internet to say things you'd never say to someone's face.
I have... I do react, occasionally.
I do react sometimes.
For instance, the new Marvell superheroin film was announced.
With Miss Marvell and it's the first Islamic superhero to have her own film.
And people posted the most dreadful reactions.
For example: So what is her strength? Being able to explode.
Or can she fly through skyscrapers? Jokes like that.
It's totally unnecessary, so I reacted to it.
I said: Guys, what is this?
It's totally great. It's a representation for Muslim women.
It's a positive thing and it doesn't bother me
if there's a superheroin with a different religious background or skin colour.
Why would you get worked up about it? So I reacted to that.
But I must say that there are things I'd like to react to, but I don't.
One of the reasons for it is, and it always feels a bit awkward...
It's not a chill thing to say, but sometimes it's people you know.
They say something you don't agree with, but if you were to confront them with it
it'd have consequences. It would...
And when you think about it, if someone who is close to you thinks like that
and I don't agree with it and they're spreading negativity
you should be able to distance yourself from it.
But that's harder. It's easier said than done. That's what it is.