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Jack Dorsey had an amazing birthday in Myanmar, where social media enabled genocide

The birthday boy had a fun time in a country known for its ‘mass atrocities.’

Photo of Ana Valens

Ana Valens

untwitter8chan

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is a big boy now. He just turned 42 years old, and to celebrate, Dorsey went on a 10-day trip to Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar. The birthday boy loved his time practicing silent vipassana meditation in the country, where he listened to his favorite artist Kendrick Lamar and used his shiny new Apple Watch.

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To celebrate, Dorsey wrote a thread filled with over a dozen tweets about his journey, and in the end, he encouraged his followers to go to Myanmar.

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Of course, Dorsey forgot one minor note: Just two years ago, Myanmar’s government took place in a violent campaign against its Muslim Rohingya population that has been labeled a genocide by the United Nations.

“I’m no expert on meditation, but is it supposed to make you so self-obsessed that you forget to mention you’re in a country where the military has committed mass killings and mass rape, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, in one of today’s biggest humanitarian disasters?” Human Rights Watch’s Andrew Stroehlein tweeted.

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https://twitter.com/ThomasSadoski/status/1071774589271900160

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In a report from earlier this year, UN investigators spoke to over 800 witnesses who had fled Myanmar from the country’s military. Survivors recalled stories of military personnel “killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages,” according to the Guardian. The Human Rights Watch has since called for “advance criminal justice for atrocious crimes” amid the “mass atrocities.”

Furthermore, members of the Myanmar military spread misinformation across Facebook in an attempt to put the country’s Buddhist majority against the Rohingya. While Facebook eventually cracked down on Myanmar military personnel, human rights groups “blame the anti-Rohingya propaganda for inciting murders, rapes, and the largest forced human migration in recent history,” according to an October report from the New York Times.

One would think Dorsey, the leader behind one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, would be keenly aware of social media’s role in the Myanmar genocide before visiting—or promoting—the country. Doing so essentially ignores the atrocities and social media’s role in promoting them. But this is Dorsey we’re talking about, who Seth Rogen once famously said: “does not seem to give a fuck.”

Once again, that adage was proven true.

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https://twitter.com/hannummontanum/status/1071613094151913472

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https://twitter.com/NoraReed/status/1072050876737437696

It’s unclear how Dorsey feels about his platform’s universal disdain for his Myanmar trip. Chances are he thinks he’s a victim, though. Case in point, Dorsey has liked a post defending him from “vacation shaming” after he was unable to comment on a BuzzFeed report amid his comments on India’s caste system.

H/T Gizmodo

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