There are people who find it amusing to write obsene and offensive stuff on web sites. You may have been a victim of this yourself or maybe even done it yourself. People who do this regularly are known as trolls.
There was a BBC TV programme about this and you can view it on iplayer at the moment.
Our immediate response to this kind of thing is to ask for laws to stop it. The problem is that in these kinds of situations the law is not the right tool. If you try and stop people posting anything offensive then how do you still allow free speech? It might seem obvious to us what is an offensive message and what is not but its really hard to write that into a law. However there are laws already designed to stop this kind of thing and if you are a victim you should talk to others about it (especially people like parents and teachers or employers) and if it’s really bad or you feel at all threatened then go to the Police.
Here is the UK Government web page on cyber bullying. Although cyber bullying doesn’t have an age limit of course.
So maybe we want to remove anonimity and force people to declare who they are, but this creates problems for those who are trying to expose the people of power who abuse that power.
In the so called ‘Arab Spring’ the web played an important role in getting the message out to others. If we remove anonimity then we remove any protection people have from those who wish to abuse them.
It’s very complicated.
However, I think there are some things that we can all do when online that will help.
The first is not to feed the trolls. If you come across an offensive post then don’t respond to it or make anything of it. Posts like this are made to offend and to get a response. If the troll gets the impression nobody cares (or have even read) the post then they will need to get their kicks somewhere else. It’s a sad truth that often trolls are not the usual kind of evil person you might expect. Many believe they are doing something positive for the web by challenging the inane that so often appears. They are wrong of course and seem to give no thought to the harm they cause. So if you read an offensive post then don’t respond. Jesus called it turning the other cheek – what a smart man and ahead of his time too.
The next thing to do is to think again about your own posts. Are you feeding the anger and hate with what you post? Could people take things the wrong way? Do you think its funny to mock others and put that in your posts? Do you easily get drawn in to conversations where others are saying hateful things.
The trouble with the web is it is very public. To say you hate someone to their face is bad enough but if you post it on a web site others read it – some of them will not be able to see any humour in what you have said and others will use it as fuel to attack the person you have offended.
So let’s not feed the troll. Don’t respond to hateful attacks on the web (whoever they are about) and don’t feed that little troll inside yourself that may contribute to the problem.