Here come the trolls
Last weekend as I was relaxing at home, I got a message from a friend of mine who came across a social media page he was puzzled by. Later in the day, I found two similar ones myself.
What I’m talking about is the emergence of at least three different anonymous social media pages that were created with a single purpose: to throw dirt and spread rumors about different candidates who are running for office this year.
All three pages are attacking a different candidate, but there are a few underlying concerns regarding each of them. Because I don’t intend to feed the trolls, I will not share the names of those pages or who they are targeting since it’s not the main point I want to raise this week.
Instead, I want to talk about
All three pages have some generic name that attempts to fool people into believing they are a legitimate community organization. But what they really cowardice. are is a gutless attempt to discredit and disparage without taking the credit.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not here to defend any of the candidates, but rather to make the public aware that there are individuals who are trying to sway public opinion yet who don’t haven’t enough confidence in their own arsenals to attach their name to the shots they fire.
It’s perfectly fine to raise concerns and question officials. That should be encouraged, but it also should be done if in an open fashion. If someone resorts to hiding their identity just to throw a jab at someone, why should anyone else pay any attention to their arguments, when they can’t even stand by them?
The most frightening part of this is how quickly some members of the community get triggered by some of these posts and begin to spread a lot of the nonsense around without thinking twice.
Just two weeks ago, I had to address a similar matter, and I continue to be very unimpressed with our ability to get past our own preconceived notions to weigh and judge properly the validity of some of these attacks.
With elections inching closer, I continue to lose confidence in our ability to distinguish between emotion and truth.
This is not a new phenomenon or new issue. We’re continuing to fall for the same misinformation and repeating the same mistakes.
If you have concerns about a candidate, there reasonable approaches to investigating them. However, be vigilant in avoiding those who are trying to shape your views with empty claims.