There may be quite a lot of nastiness round this week. I can totally perceive politicians being upset when their election posters are burned or worse they seem on bonfires as hanging effigies. But when we step again a bit the twelfth has really been pretty quiet the previous few years in comparison with the riot fest it was once.
Appropriate me if I’m fallacious however I don’t suppose there have been any controversial parades this 12 months. The ever-larger bonfires are an actual concern however the primary harm there may be to their very own communities (Not that destroying your individual neighborhood is an effective factor).
The distinction is now everybody has a smartphone of their pocket. They can movie each eijit doing one thing silly and throughout the hour the video pinballs its method round WhatsApp, Reddit and Twitter. Admittedly some of these things may be very humorous, just like the cops arresting the bin, however quite a lot of it’s fairly malicious.
I feel the purpose of Mick’s put up was misplaced on lots of people. If you happen to averted social media then you definately would have a totally totally different view of the week than when you had been following each twist and activate social media.
At this level, you might be able to hit the feedback and level out that the mainstream media offers an excessively rosy view of occasions and glosses over quite a lot of the darkish stuff. Solely social media offers a real image of what’s occurring. However does each utterance and imbecilic act must be broadcast to the world?
We’re happening a really darkish path. Very quickly your smartphone will have the ability to repeatedly file and transcribe all the things you say and each dialog you may have. No matter you say down the pub one evening with just a few drinks in your could possibly be broadcast to the world. Your joke or comment might be taken out of context and you would be cancelled. There might be a righteous purge of all deviant behaviour and ideas that don’t meet the requirements of the Twitter mob.
To be clear I’m not excusing any behaviour however making the purpose that these acts are designed to shock and get a response. By giving them consideration are we simply fueling the cycle? Burning an effigy of somebody is clearly greater than a slight, it’s a hate crime however the place would the cops even start to analyze against the law like that? Finally the harm is to Loyalism and Unionism. The center floor are the individuals who will resolve the results of a border ballot, burning effigies of the individuals they vote for just isn’t doing a lot to win their hearts and minds.
Any whataboutery feedback that simply feed the grievance machine might be deleted. As an alternative, take a breath for a minute and contemplate is all this righteous indignation getting us anyplace? Is the amplification of each slight and grievance serving to us?
I assist hold the nice ship Slugger afloat by managing the enterprise and techy stuff.
