Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy, recently talked about the vast increase in threats to politicians. This includes intimidation to the extent that the police advised one politician to avoid venturing into the city centre and instead to stay in the environs of Leinster House.
Ms Murphy also talked about fake profiles being set up online purely to disseminate inaccurate and damaging information.
Among the general public, there are two schools of thought about online intimidation. One can be summarised as: ‘Man (or woman) up. It’s just the internet. Don’t read the stuff. It’s unrepresentative.’
The other, with which I have far more sympathy, sees that this level of abuse is utterly corrosive and that it has begun to shape real-life interactions in ever more disturbing ways.
Some of it is just childish. For example, commenting negatively on women writers’ hair and weight is one trope.
Darker
Other comments have a far darker tinge. Personally, I have received fervent wishes that I be badly beaten, or die from painful diseases, or that my children be taken away from me for their own safety. I have been accused of being complicit in the cover-up of child abuse or personally responsible for the deaths of young people from suicide.
One person repeatedly expressed the wish that Maria Steen and I be burned to death in the Iona Institute offices.
Confirmation bias is the human tendency to seek out information that confirms prior beliefs. Social media has amplified this tendency to dangerous levels. This has led to what theorists call affective polarisation, which is a fancy way of saying that people feel real hate for those with whom they disagree.
Social media creates perverse incentives for divisive content because it is particularly likely to go viral.
It was interesting to me that friends who were apolitical were genuinely horrified by the threat, unlike friends who are more active in politics”
This hatred stirred by online comments sometimes expressed in more old-fashioned ways, such as when a packet containing a white powder was sent to the Iona Institute offices, addressed to David Quinn and me.
The writer implied that the powder was anthrax. Thank God, producing a weaponised aerosol form of anthrax needs advanced expertise.
So, neither David Quinn nor I ever believed it to be anthrax but a threat like this, designed to cause distress, is a crime, nonetheless. It also wastes public money, as every threat has to be taken seriously. In this case, like others, it resulted in the area being sealed off and the army bomb disposal team being called in.
It was interesting to me that friends who were apolitical were genuinely horrified by the threat, unlike friends who are more active in politics. It made me realise that I have begun to take this level of intimidation almost for granted, which cannot be a good thing.
Designed
These threats are designed to close down debate, to bully people and make them less likely to participate in politics or public advocacy.
Whether one agrees with all his views or not, the murder of Charlie Kirk, a young conservative advocate, was a deeply frightening development.
I made the mistake of viewing some online content where people were actively celebrating the murder of this young father, including that he was killed in front of his wife and children.
The commentary was vicious, ranging from the allegation that because he opposed gun control, he deserved to die in this way, to hopes that others would soon be silenced in the same way.
The free exchange of ideas among people who disagree with each other is a fundamental foundation of democracy. I have had the experience of being shouted down and prevented from speaking for forty minutes at Oxford University, allegedly one of the finest universities in the world.
What use is high intelligence if it is used to avoid having to listen to views with which you disagree?
There are no easy answers to the threats to free speech but we all need to be respectful in our interactions, both in real life and online. Social media platforms, which profit from outrage, also need to be held responsible for egregious examples of threats and disinformation.
Online and real-life threats to free speech
Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy, recently talked about the vast increase in threats to politicians. This includes intimidation to the extent that the police advised one politician to avoid venturing into the city centre and instead to stay in the environs of Leinster House.
Ms Murphy also talked about fake profiles being set up online purely to disseminate inaccurate and damaging information.
Among the general public, there are two schools of thought about online intimidation. One can be summarised as: ‘Man (or woman) up. It’s just the internet. Don’t read the stuff. It’s unrepresentative.’
The other, with which I have far more sympathy, sees that this level of abuse is utterly corrosive and that it has begun to shape real-life interactions in ever more disturbing ways.
Some of it is just childish. For example, commenting negatively on women writers’ hair and weight is one trope.
Darker
Other comments have a far darker tinge. Personally, I have received fervent wishes that I be badly beaten, or die from painful diseases, or that my children be taken away from me for their own safety. I have been accused of being complicit in the cover-up of child abuse or personally responsible for the deaths of young people from suicide.
One person repeatedly expressed the wish that Maria Steen and I be burned to death in the Iona Institute offices.
Confirmation bias is the human tendency to seek out information that confirms prior beliefs. Social media has amplified this tendency to dangerous levels. This has led to what theorists call affective polarisation, which is a fancy way of saying that people feel real hate for those with whom they disagree.
Social media creates perverse incentives for divisive content because it is particularly likely to go viral.
This hatred stirred by online comments sometimes expressed in more old-fashioned ways, such as when a packet containing a white powder was sent to the Iona Institute offices, addressed to David Quinn and me.
The writer implied that the powder was anthrax. Thank God, producing a weaponised aerosol form of anthrax needs advanced expertise.
So, neither David Quinn nor I ever believed it to be anthrax but a threat like this, designed to cause distress, is a crime, nonetheless. It also wastes public money, as every threat has to be taken seriously. In this case, like others, it resulted in the area being sealed off and the army bomb disposal team being called in.
It was interesting to me that friends who were apolitical were genuinely horrified by the threat, unlike friends who are more active in politics. It made me realise that I have begun to take this level of intimidation almost for granted, which cannot be a good thing.
Designed
These threats are designed to close down debate, to bully people and make them less likely to participate in politics or public advocacy.
Whether one agrees with all his views or not, the murder of Charlie Kirk, a young conservative advocate, was a deeply frightening development.
I made the mistake of viewing some online content where people were actively celebrating the murder of this young father, including that he was killed in front of his wife and children.
The commentary was vicious, ranging from the allegation that because he opposed gun control, he deserved to die in this way, to hopes that others would soon be silenced in the same way.
The free exchange of ideas among people who disagree with each other is a fundamental foundation of democracy. I have had the experience of being shouted down and prevented from speaking for forty minutes at Oxford University, allegedly one of the finest universities in the world.
What use is high intelligence if it is used to avoid having to listen to views with which you disagree?
There are no easy answers to the threats to free speech but we all need to be respectful in our interactions, both in real life and online. Social media platforms, which profit from outrage, also need to be held responsible for egregious examples of threats and disinformation.
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