The day after Barack Obama was elected for a second term as president of the United States, twitter was busy with people around the world giving their opinion on the election. What surprised me though were the offensive and disgusting racist tweets coming out in the hours following the news of Obama’s victory.

Floating Sheep, a group of geography academics, investigated what exactly was being said on Twitter, and found that there were 395 racist tweets in the 24 hours following the election. Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia had the largest number of racist tweets, which isn’t surprising that hate groups such as the Klu Klux Klan are known to be active in the region, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit group that tracks hate groups.

I understand racism is an inherent part of life and that there will always be idiots who believe in it. Why anyone would tweet about it beats me. Take twitter user Marmaduke (@marmadukeprobz), who tweeted that “it’s called the white house for a reason.” Well, thanks for clearing that up, Marmarduke. Obviously, someone has some painting to do.

Or take twitter user M. Marks (@MoriahRae1). After tweeting that “F*cking N*gger won again”, Marks was bombarded with tweets attacking her, as well as tweets supporting her. Soledad O’Brien, CNN anchor and host of the Black in America documentaries airing on that channel, later tweeted “oh Moriah. Ur sad.”

Yes, Soledad, she is sad, but she is also an idiot. Although I don’t agree with continuing the cycle of hate that comments like these incur, I do believe that if you are going to air your ridiculous, offensive and backwards opinions in public keep in mind you have to be able to withstand the justified blowback these comments incur.