Boyfriend reveals anti-Semitic ideas

Dear Amy: My boyfriend of several years has disappeared into the seedy underbellies of Twitter and 4chan.

“Steve” now gets most of his news off of the Trollish “alt-right” sections of those sites. He has become increasingly and self-admittedly anti-Semitic. He spends a lot of time trying to convince me that his favorite author isn’t a Nazi (I disagree).

He makes purposely inflammatory tweets under an anonymous account, and has been banned more than once.

I’m a passionate advocate of the First Amendment, even when the words are distasteful. But this just feels wrong.

It’s affecting our otherwise good relationship, and I want my boyfriend back. — Ms. Internet Troll

Dear Ms. Troll: Your boyfriend’s hate speech is on him. I can’t quite imagine how your relationship with this guy can be “otherwise good” when he is admitting to being antiSemitic, admires someone you believe is a Nazi and has already been banned by a famously loose social media site (a user has to dive into seriously threatening territory to get banned from Twitter).

I don’t believe that partners should police one another and “allow” or prohibit any particular behavior or expression. But what does this guy have to do before you will stand up, exercise your own rights, and say, “I don’t like the man you’ve become. I’m out of here?”

At some point, ignoring hate, turning a deaf ear or focusing only on the wedge of good stuff that affects you personally makes you part of the problem. You’re at that point.

Here’s a quote attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

I’m not saying that your guy is evil. But if you are “good,” then you should stand for something. So stand, already!