In this age, almost everyone can be found online. From Twitter to Facebook to Snapchat, we live in a world that connects everyone.

However, this isn’t always a good thing. In the last few years, hate speech has gained a lot of headway in America, evolving from comments on a screen to large-scale protests in cities, such as the recent one in Charlottesville, Virginia, which brought out white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

Thanks to the Internet, that protest gained more attention than it normally would have, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Following it, thousands of videos were posted online. People took to Facebook and Twitter to start naming the people they recognized.

Within days, tens of people had lost their jobs because of these “call-out” posts. Despite that some of these people were Nazis, people argued, it was unfair to go online and “brand” people Nazis, even though they were allegedly seen supporting the Nazi movement.

Many argued under these posts that people’s work lives and their personal lives shouldn’t interfere with each other and that people’s beliefs outside the workplace shouldn’t determine their job security.

While this is a valid point, it doesn’t really have much truth behind it, considering a commonality among employers is to check interviewees’ Facebook profiles before hiring them.

Iowa City is no stranger to this, with a Farmers’ Market vendor taking some heat over some questionable comments he made on Facebook.

On Aug. 19, around 10 protesters stood in front of vendor Jeff Pierce’s stand during the Farmers’ Market, holding signs quoting some of the man’s Facebook posts. The group urged passersby to not buy from the vendor and created a scene at the market.

On June 25, he wrote, “multiculturalism IS white genocide. it should be terrifying to everyone.” He also posted, “america used to belong to two peoples. not in perfect harmony, at least it was ours.”

However, in the last week, Pierce posted, “i’m not a ‘white nationalist.’ i believe america should remain majority white if it is to retain its essential character, some don’t think that character is essential to americanness or they are outright hostile to whites.”

While protesters pushed for Pierce’s stand to be removed from the market, Iowa City officials published a statement online saying that wouldn’t happen. They said, “While the city denounces such rhetoric from any source, and while it runs counter to our core values, we do not have the authority to take action to suspend or remove a vendor based on content of speech in such a forum.”

Protests have power, but they lose that power when used over and over again. It is good to call out people for their hate, but like anything else, there is a mature and immature way in which people can do so. While these protesters were trying to do good, their efforts ultimately backfired a little.