Barrage of outrage over disputed views makes us sorry for offender

MORAL outrage towards controversial views on Facebook and Twitter backfire by fuelling sympathy for the offenders, according to research.

When politically incorrect comments go viral the barrage of abuse they attract comes across as bullying, say scientists.

This makes the public more likely to side with the perpetrator, rather than the critics.

Psychologist Takuya Sawaoka said: “One of the features of the digital age is anyone’s words or actions can go viral, whether they intend to or not. In many cases, the social media posts that are met with viral outrage were never intended to be seen by people outside of the poster’s social circle. Someone doesn’t even need to be on social media for their actions to go viral”.

Graduate student Mr Sawaoka and Professor Benoit Monin, of Stanford University, California, said people can be quick to call attention to behaviour they see as racist, sexist or unpatriotic on social media.

But when that outcry goes viral, they may be perceived less as noble heroes doing the right thing and more like brutes dolling out excessive punishment.

The study found such responses are seen as legitimate and even admirable as individual remarks. But when they multiply the dynamics change dramatically.

It was based upon six experiments involving 3,377 participants in which a variety of scenarios were set up, including asking them how they felt when there were only one or two comments versus a mass of replies.

One featured a real story of a charity worker who posted a photograph of herself making an obscene gesture and pretending to shout next to a sign that read “Silence and Respect” at Virginia’s Arlington National Cemetery for the US military. When participants saw the post with just a single comment condemning it, they found the reaction applaudable.

But when it was echoed by many others they viewed the original reply, that had been praiseworthy in isolation, more negatively. Early commenters were penalised for later, independent responses, the researchers said.

Mr Monin said: “There is a balance between sympathy and outrage. The outrage goes up and up, but at some point sympathy kicks in. Once a comment becomes part of a group, it can appear problematic.

“People start to think, “This is too much – that’s enough. We see outrage at the outrage’.”

People start to think, “This is too much – that’s enough