A quick word about the Internet.
Recently we have begun to feel pretty disheartened about the way people interact with the Internet. This amazing advancement of technology which can offer us so much has actually brought out the worst in some of us.
There is so much incredible knowledge and tools that didn’t exist fifty years ago. We have so much to be thankful for in this computer-driven age and yet humanity can’t seem to stem the flow of bad news, tasteless humour and threads upon threads of trolling.
There’s a buzzword to watch out for. Not trolling, that’s not important in the grand scheme of things, the other one: humanity. If you have been following this media circus that is the Amanda Todd story, then surely you will understand where a lack of faith in the good of humanity is coming from.
Being able to hide your face on an anonymous forum is one thing, but posting mean-spirited things about a 15-year-old girl because she was sexually exploited and killed herself from your Facebook account is truly bewildering and shocking.
Someone is dead. This is a tragedy, and the fact that hundreds of people have so little compassion for her and so little shame about what they are saying, that they have the nerve to post malicious things using their own name, is bizarre. It is inexplicable.
How is anyone allowed to get away with that?
They can’t, that’s the point. One man in Ontario lost his job over a negative post he made concerning Todd’s untimely death.
We don’t mean to get on our high horse about this, but it just doesn’t seem logical or ethical. What kind of person hears about a teenager committing suicide and thinks, ‘I should probably post something degrading on her Facebook memorial page.’
Your co-workers will see that.
Your friends will see that.
Amanda Todd’s family might see that.
We wouldn’t stoop to publish some of the comments made on the multiple memorial pages that have sprung up in the last two weeks but, take our word for it, we are not overreacting.
This is an overarching problem which ties into how we view the Internet as a society. On one hand, we want to stop cyber-bullying and the sharing of child porn, on the other, we want freedom of information and privacy rights.
So where do we draw the line then? When do things become so bad that people stop and think for a minute before posting some idiotic and offensive opinion online for the world to see? It’s not your personal Internet, it’s a massive network which connects billions of people. What you say and do has an effect, and anyone with a shred of respect for other people must agree that these are not the kind of posts we want popping up in our newsfeeds.
