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Must tit equal tat?

March 23, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

If memory serves, during the latter half of the most severe lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic, little ads of encouragement popped up on one’s computer: daddies talking to their children, mommies making the nicest dinners they could think of, puppy dogs there to console and make things better, as dogs do happy more willingly than sad. They all talked about the sunrise of a new beginning because, during the lockdowns, we became more aware of the need for us to check in with each other, for the strong to shovel the snow in the neighbour’s driveway.

Families cooked for other families or people living on their own; did their shopping for them; that tender jar of soup, a plate of cookies. There was a campaign for staying in touch with grandparents when they couldn’t be with their loved ones over Christmas or their birthdays. 

Kindness seemed re-born, seen finally as essential to a balanced way of life; as the best sense for communities, at large or completely local – to look out for one another, as a common sense, deeply moral approach to living. Like a reward for being isolated and not able to hug or shake hands in person, kindness was going to be our guide, a way to welcome ourselves back into each other’s physical presence.

Well, well. We’re ruining the planet with little signs of stopping or changing our methods of powering humans to turn on the stove, go to the movies, and ride a Ferris wheel. Why would any of us dare to believe that our Covid behaviour would see us withdraw from harmful behaviour – from beating up a neighbour’s mailbox to invading an independent, autonomous nation?

Okay, and on just as broad a sweep – how about the likes of Twitter? Like the hopeful visions of a post-Covid world, Twitter was created as a “nurturing paradise” and has become one of the world’s largest social media platforms. Maybe it was doing alright, and maybe, in general, people using Twitter were civil, friendly, and perhaps even affectionate.

Certainly, there were constructive conversations among like minds, discussing important issues and working on networks of influence to prod government or others through to helping resolve crises.

Along came Elon Musk. Had he become bored with his vehicles? His rockets into space, flying up and then coming home again? What was it that made him determined to own Twitter? Perhaps only being the Richest Man in the world had palled. Not enough human contact, not really enough power. He did pass up the opportunity from a challenge he gave the UN to save 42 million people in 43 countries from starvation for a year at a cost of only $6 billion.

Not big enough, not enough thank-yous – Whatever.

Instead, he spent $44 Billion buying Twitter, and now he is influencing the whole world even if he is no longer the Richest Man. Hurray! Now all those trolls, all those dark-minded people with their threats, and you know, the whole horrid business have been released, and their accounts welcomed back.

“I have to admit trolls are kinda fun,” he tweeted. Then famously, “Sorry for turning Twitter from a nurturing paradise into a place … that has Trolls.”

Actually, Elon finds the streams of threats and abuse hilarious.

Even amongst most Twitter users who are not trolls, there is still that shying away from kindness in favour of the drawn-out tit-for-tat exchanges that can hurt many people in their path. 

How does the blood flow? Twitter, Facebook, all of it is either the extension of our conduct historically or the online devilment flows back into society. Easy to assess: we are who we have been from the beginning. A terrible monster that consumes all its path despoils its own nest and, once rendered uninhabitable, moves on to equally scar the next perfect place, an idyllic spot, irreplaceable green space planned for demolition.

There is so much that is good about us. Like the other creatures of this earth, we have learned to sing, to commune in creativity- to leave beauty in the path we have walked, leave it there for the healing and the learning of others.

Still, every good, well-intended invention becomes a weapon of war, even including the Internet, but it does not have to be like that. We can stand against abuse and battle firstly by our own lives and logic. We can refuse to be part of a Twitter exchange that hurts. We can send an absolutely unending message to the people who depend on our vote that we will not support their tyranny on the environment, on the poor and disabled, not with anger, but with truth and insisting they listen, withdraw, stop. 

Twitter’s power can be its own solution. Bullies feed on attention. Eventually, left alone in their own bile becomes boring at best and as long as we push them aside and refuse to be afraid and refuse to pander to their lust for reaction could be the steam will run out of their passion.

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