Why are people so eager to wallow in anger online?
If you don’t have anything nice to say, you might be on the web, notes Erin Petrow.
When I was growing up, my mom used to say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Parents attempting to keep their kids polite and in line often turn to this adage — and I tend to think adults on the internet should take the same advice.
This year has been filled with divisive news events — the federal election, the implementation of a national carbon tax and the sentencing of trucker Jaskirat Singh Sidhu in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, just to name a few — and the ensuing flood of comments on social media whenever the Saskatoon Starphoenix and Regina Leader-post shared a story online.
Monitoring these seemingly unending comments, both reasonable and unreasonable, was the most memorable aspect of my job this year — and not for a happy reason.
For every person who shared their opinion in a reasonable, polite manner, there were at least five who did not bring any intelligent, or even relevant, arguments to the table. Usually, what started with someone sharing an opinion on the matter at hand would quickly devolve into name calling — from “libtard,” to “snowflake” to words I won’t repeat here — and other personal attacks.
Moderating these arguments is undoubtedly one of the most depressing aspects of a job I otherwise enjoy.
Colleagues would warn me if they thought a story, often involving an Indigenous person or issue, should receive a bit of extra attention in overseeing the Facebook comments. Usually this meant it was likely that overt racism would end up littered throughout the comments, sometimes under fake profiles, but more often just posted publicly from a legitimate account.
I always found it shocking to click on a commenter’s profile and discover a photo of the person cuddling with their children or grandchildren. I would love to ask those people: Is that how you’re raising the younger generations of your family to act? Or are you content to just hang your hopes on the “Do as I say, not as I do” method?
I would also like to offer some polite advice. First, if you want your comment on a news item to be taken seriously by others, take the time to actually read the article rather than assume your cursory glance at the headline has imparted all the story’s nuances directly into your knowledge bank. Nothing makes you look more ignorant than commenting on a story when it’s obvious you don’t know what’s in it.
Second, if you feel a fake profile is necessary when sharing your views online, maybe it’s time to take a hard look at your reasons. Not only does The Starphoenix ban comments from fake profiles once they are discovered, it isn’t hard for others to uncover this deception and make a snap judgment on what kind of troll hides behind an alias.
The beauty of living in Canada is having the opportunity to share our opinions openly, so next time you see an opinion you don’t share, take a few deep breaths and ask yourself if it’s worth it to get angry and take that feeling out on a stranger whose circumstances are unknown to you.
Consider ditching the insults and responding with your own reasonable and polite counterpoint. In the end, we might all have a better chance to learn something from each other.