Hold on: Hatred and mass murder are neither online nor offline
Writing for the Guardian, on Friday 15th, following
the deadly terror attack by right wing extremists in New Zealand, Jason Wilson
argued that Christchurch shootings have exposed the murderous nature of
‘ironic’ online fascism and then on CNN's Cuomo Prime Time, on Saturday 16th
Christian Picciolini argues for how technology has aided the rise of hate. Am I
the only soul thinking this argument is problematic? Where does online start
and end? Is the world not so seamless between ‘real and online?’ And how
‘unreal’ is the online anyway? I thought we needed to stop blaming mediums
and channels of communication and address the problems that are in the minds
and hearts of people. Hatred of all kinds, mass murders and terrorism etc have
always been a problem of humanity; these evils never started with social media
and I think they will not end with it. Neither can we quite authoritatively and
confidently claim that social media/networks are actually enhancing and/or
diminishing the said human hatred, cruelty and brutality. I do not recall
having seen any strong evidence, so far, to convince me of the existence of any
strong correlation between the two despite the fact that this assumption seems
to be rampant and easily used by many people, some of whom appear or claim to
be experts. Whether the mass murderer taped his act and put it online or even
did it live using a social media platform or not, the most basic issue is that
he had this deep hatred in his heart and a poisoned mind. What poisons the mind
and corrupts the heart is where the problem of humanity lies. It is linked to a
certain set of religious beliefs and political ideologies well packed and
propagated to certain narratives and discourses leading to prejudices that
ironically, many people speaking against this ills are not ready and/or willing
to vacate. We are victims of a vicious and dangerously strong narrative of
hatred which we - consciously or unconsciously - are unable to overcome because
it is quite taxing; it may entail giving up a part of us or, at least,
abandoning some of the things that we hold so dear and/or as some sort of
universal truths. I am very hesitant to blame any kind of media whether social
or otherwise when it comes to this cruelty. It is more of dealing with symptoms
and not the problems.
Hold on: Hatred and mass murder are neither online nor offline
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
March 17, 2019
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