’Be kind to each other’: bullying on Coffs social pages raises concerns

FACEBOOK is often described as a “cesspit” in which misogyny, racism, bullying, misinformation, and spam and scams, are too often evident.

Community social pages are particularly prone to the comments of minority members who appear to relish the opportunity to belittle and demean others.

This was highlighted last week when posts on a Coffs Coast community page, relating to the alleged bullying of female councillors by men on another page, elicited several hundred responses.

The person who raised the bullying told News Of the Area that, “some of the abuse has been horrible”.

She said that ignoring the posts may not make them go away, but that “the more we use positive language, hopefully the conversation will improve.”

Cr Tony Judge said, “This is nothing new.”

“I’ve been getting personal abuse on Facebook since I became involved in local government.

“It would be better for our community if people could stick to the issues and stay away from personal abuse.”

Mayor Nikki Williams agreed.

“I think that we as a community need to stop and think and be kind to each other,” she said.

“We have a special community that we need to keep together.”

Steps can be taken to minimise online unkindness, an administrator of a different Coffs Coast community page said.

Followers and participants are monitored, and posts are vetted before being approved.

He said it takes a lot of time, but it ensures that the page is a safe place for the community to come together and share information.

The alleged bullying and subsequent comments highlight several issues with social media.

A major one is that when someone shares an unkind comment, they cannot know how damaging it might be to the people identified in the post.

Another is that few people can “cast the first stone”.

For instance, several commenters on the community page in question were called out for being disrespectful to others in the past.

A third is that the ability to accept different perspectives appears to be diminishing.

Participants in online discussions, particularly those concerning issues they are passionate about, easily fall into right vs wrong arguments – forgetting that many issues are nuanced.

Attacking those who have a different opinion instead of balancing an argument, is a growing practice – as News Of The Area’s regular contributors are aware.

To borrow an adage from previous generations, if you can’t type something nice, don’t type at all.

By Andrew VIVIAN