Rumour mills growing with more venom

kentonline news editor

Social media. It’s a (sometimes) wonderful thing. As I write this I’m acutely aware that I’m more in touch with the world than ever before. While there’s a lot to be said for this ever-increasing interconnectivity it can also be a profoundly depressing concept.

Knowing what everyone thinks about pretty much everything can be overwhelming. It’s often frustrating when you don’t agree and hard to look past the simple fact the outspoken few are more often than not the minority.

If comments on MailOnline were a reliable barometer of public opinion we’d be living in the Third Reich. But we’re not. Far from it, in fact.

This often dangerous response is most notable in the wake of tragedies.

Whether it be people apportioning blame for fatal crashes minutes after they have happened or instinctively pointing fingers at a religion in the wake of coldblooded murders, the venomous rumour mill seems to be gathering pace.

When a frenzied knife attack claimed the lives of Mia AyliffeChung and Thomas Jackson last week, reports rapidly started circulating of the killer’s motive in a situation which mirrored the aftermath of the stabbing of tourist Darlene Horton in central London just two weeks previously.

In these situations it’s more important than ever to stop for a moment and avoid jumping to conclusions. As any academic will tell you, Facebook is not a reliable source.

Miss Ayliffe-Chung’s family have now taken the decision to have a passage from the Qur’an read at her funeral in an effort to counter the misrepresentation of her death.

It’s an important step to take, but it shouldn’t be up to them. We all need to start realising we should be balancing social media’s undoubted benefits with a dash of responsibility for what we write.