Please Tweet Responsibly

The famous quote from Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben—“With great power comes great responsibility.”—feels especially true in the age of social media.

The vast majority of people will never be on television, will never be invited to important private functions, and will never have millions of people care about what they say. It’s hard to comprehend the vulnerability of this position and responsibility required to manage this strange reality.

Like Spider-Man, I also have an origin story. I’m an IT guy by trade. A couple of months after the death of George Floyd, I decided to write a book, “Black Victim To Black Victor.” Only a few people in my life knew what I was doing because I didn’t want anyone talking me out of it; I even kept my mother in the dark through the process.

I had no real expectations, but I knew that people were increasingly losing jobs, friendships, and even family members for sharing moderately controversial views. During the eight months I spent writing, I mentally prepared myself to potentially face these consequences, but even if that happened, I was fine with it.

I had no ambition to be famous. I just wanted to write a book that I could hand to my son one day—a reminder to be brave amidst societal pressures that seek to silence you.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that I only expected maybe ten people outside of my immediate circle to buy the book, and I was perfectly fine with that.

At the time, I had a Facebook account that I barely logged into and I generally stayed away from social media altogether. It just seemed burdensome and intrusive. However, when you are trying to market a book and share ideas, social media is the perfect place for a nobody to get noticed.

Joining Twitter ended up changing the trajectory of my life. I quickly realized that if I used it responsibly, it could be a networking game changer. Nearly every opportunity I’ve had since took root on that platform.

The land of viral tweets, and I’ve had many over the years, has brought me to places like the Ron DeSantis re-election celebration and inauguration as a VIP guest. Through social media networking, I became a frequent contributor to the New York Post, writing there since 2022. That very book that I thought no one would care about was directly quoted by Vivek Ramaswamy in his own book, “Nation of Victims.”

My newfound visibility has also given me the opportunity to privately connect with people trying to come to Christ and embrace them on their walk. It’s an honor and responsibility that I appreciate and don’t take lightly.

This article would be three times as long if I were to detail the number of unexpected blessings I’ve received, all because one day I decided to write a book that ran contrary to the dominant narratives of the time. One man I spoke to said that my book changed his life. I mean, how do you prepare yourself for that level of impact on the world?

I’m certainly not famous but rather niche-notable, which is perfectly fine by me. Who would want to be Michael Jackson-famous? Sounds like a nightmarish life to me.

However, even at this level, I still have a lot of responsibility for how I conduct myself and treat people publicly. I carefully think about how each word I write might be misunderstood. I frequently choose not to hit “post” to avoid the unintended consequences.

Being a public figure has its perks, but if you want to be responsible, you need constraints; in my opinion, those constraints are good. Speaking recklessly can damage your own reputation, but can also hurt others, and you won’t be able to predict exactly what those costs will be beforehand.

People generally understand cancel culture when it’s overt and loud, as they try to force your sponsors to condemn you and your friends to disassociate. But speaking without regard can also cause a silent cancellation, where people just stop talking to you and that pending opportunity you didn’t even know was coming suddenly disappears.

Those who stray are often chasing fame and external validation. They get caught up in their own hype. This ecosystem contains many elitist snobs, but I leaned further into media to champion the average American.

When they say that God has a plan for you that you can’t see, I know they’re right.