How seriously should we take what a person posts on social media? Well, if it’s something interpreted as seditious in the eyes of the law, very seriously but what about something short of that measure? I have been guilty myself of posting irrational emotional rants on social media when I allowed heart to rule over head but I am not talking about that. I am talking about the offensive Facebook comment or Tweet that is coldly calculated to offend.
Most recent examples of course, are the online reactions to a video of the controversial Youtuber Amos Yee being slapped by an unidentified stranger. The fact that there are ‘keyboard warriors’ who are cheering on this assault as some form of vigilante justice is bewildering no doubt but is there more to this that meets the eye? Do these commentators wilfully commit these indecent acts as a means of rebellion – a way to transcend their pathetic, mundane existence and get public attention well beyond their normal means?
Surely, in a face-to-face situation, most of these ‘trolls’ would probably not dare to fire a verbal shot in anger but emboldened by the apparent lack of accountability for a social media comment, take the plunge without any thought of the consequences. It just comes too easy. I sometimes think that responding with some kind of admonishment of this kind of anti-social behaviour serves no other purpose than to egg these ‘trolls’ on. I believe the best medicine is to cut off the attention the ‘trolls’ craved, deny them the glare of the public spotlight and they might simply wither away.
