Think before you add to the social media bonfire!

I was saddened by a headline the other day. Saddened because the headline reported the fall from grace of a public figure after doing something rather silly. Of course it was simply a headline and the story lacked insight into the personal landscape that brought the individual to that point. I think that so many headlines report dramatic moments in the lives of many and that is the nature of our world. However what really saddens me is the hurtful rhetoric that too often follows a fall from grace.

How quickly we pick up the sticks and stones and throw them! Of course I don't actually mean sticks and stones but the hurtful negative comments that can be made, often without fully understanding an event. Those spiteful comments usually come from comparative safety behind a little barricade of anonymity or pseudonym. The thing is that despite the person in the headline being a public figure they are still, when all is said and done, a man or woman journeying through life: a man or woman with a family and a circle of friends who will now also take the pain.

I don't usually have a problem with headlines reporting an event but I am deeply troubled by the somewhat vigilante mentality lurking beneath many of the comments that follow. Arthur Miller's play The Crucible and William Goulding's Lord of the Flies provide powerful insights into the darkness of spiteful rhetoric. How quickly dark comments can gain a momentum that can tip a community over the edge turning neighbour against neighbour! It can and does happen in the blink of an eye! I have a friend who a little while ago said how beautiful the Syrian city of Aleppo was. The horrors of the Syrian conflict evidence the catastrophic impact of community collapse.

I say the blink of an eye and today that is very much the case. Modern communication techniques mean that an event can be reported globally in a matter of minutes. Texting, emails, social media platforms, television, radio, mobile phones and almost endless apps mean that story sound bites travel at amazing speed. Sound bites lack substance and can be troublesome.

But what is it about our time that has us wanting to heap humiliation on others? I certainly accept the place of righteous indignation but am troubled by the joy that so many find in ritual humiliation. There is, or so it seems to me, a need in many to validate their own reality by savaging others. This simply adds to the avalanche of negativity that can too often thunder through fragile communities. You will probably be reading this either in a paper copy of the Herald Express or viewing an online version. If you want to evidence some of the throwing of verbal insults then do look at the online comments that pop up after many articles! Of course many comments offer balanced opinion but sadly quite large numbers evidence less wholesome rhetoric.

Thinking about the political landscape for a moment and the way in which words are used I was quite intrigued by the rhetoric leading up to the Rochester and Strood by-election and the period immediately after. Party workers from Torbay joined numerous leading politicians in walking the streets of the constituency campaigning for their hopeful candidates. As you probably know the outcome was a UKIP success for Tory defector Mark Reckless, but what caught my attention was the resignation from Labour's front bench of Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry. Emotions were running high at Rochester and Strood which made it a breeding ground for loose comment. Emily Thornberry sent a Tweet about white vans and Union Flags which caused upset to many and provided fuel for the opposition. My point is that this one brief Tweet caused outrage and had her bumped from political office in record time. The Tweet was divisive and a divided community is a worrying place. That is something we must guard against. Hmm. If the Shadow Attorney General is that loose with words what hope is there for the rest of us?

Emily Thornberry

So, the next time you feel like saying something nasty about someone else why not preface the comment mentally with the words "Would you like a cup of tea?" That peaceful mental picture quite often is enough to stop the hurtful words becoming a reality! At the very least think before you add to the social media bonfire or launch careless words into the public domain.

Keep the smile

(Published in the Herald Express 27th November 2014)