Social media gangsterism and the dangerous praise by keyboard warriors

By Anny OSABUTEY

This week has been an interesting one on the Ghanaian social media space, especially Facebook. From a bizarre story in the  former Spanish colony of  Equatorial Guinea to the  fierce banter between pro and anti-Trump Ghanaian supporters; a post by a friend on Facebook somehow got into the trend and sparked another leg of a debate.

My friend said he sat on a “search party for a health institution identifying young leaders for strategic development”.  Along the way, according to him, he encountered a familiar face who appeared before the panel.

He then remembered this said person, in 2020, spilled “unprintable insults at me and casting doubt on my educational and professional qualifications”. This was somebody he had blocked post the incident. The interviewee walked up to him to congratulate him for a presentation he had just delivered.

My friend did not say what happened afterward but proceeded to caution against the use of abusive language on people for their views, just because one has the platform to write anything. Others also shared similar sentiments under his post.

I know another friend, a sports and media person, who shared a similar story of an applicant for a job his company advertised. Part of the application asked for the social media handles of each candidate, since it was part of the job requirement. On the said date for the interview, one of the candidates, nicely dressed and seemingly well-mannered, took his seat.

He presented his résumé and was asked all the necessary question. The panel then asked for his Twitter handle which he mentioned. Right before his own eyes the page was accessed and what came out embarrassed him.

Every tweet was full of abuse. Unbeknown to him, he had even abused a member of the panel whose department he was seeking to be employed. And that was even a week before the interview. He was asked to leave. But the panel was willing to give him a second chance. He was, therefore, called to come for his appointment letter, but he did not show up.

Back to the encounter on the health panel. The post triggered lots of divergent opinions, including claims that my friend is intolerant. Those who made the argument said he is always critical of politicians but cannot take a dose of what he gives. But that is not even true. My friend is critical of the policies of politicians, especially government(s).

In the run-up to the 2016 elections, as a health professional, he was very critical of the then sitting government and offered detailed scrutiny on their policies and programmes. He offered data to always back his position on the policies he criticised. I never heard him say he was superior on the issues he talked about, but he articulated his position with the facts available to him.

With those who disagreed, he engaged them in a lengthy banter; and it was civil. So far as the comments were respectful and articulated in the spirit of intellectual discourse, he accepted and moved on.

Those who came in with disrespect were blocked and their memory buried. But for some strange reasons or foolhardiness, some come in to insult or attack him. And especially as the silly season of politics gathers momentum, so does the trend of using intemperate language as a response to public discourse.

Some have made it their business to abuse persons they don’t share political views with, as well as those whose views they may have celebrated until they no longer find them favourable to their cause.

Social media is a minefield; and while one or two slips may be acceptable, a consistent pattern of abuse may be flagged as a reflection of one’s character. It may not be so but that is the impression one gives to the outside world.

Toward the last quarter of 2023, an elderly friend who lives in Europe and works with a global aid agency linked me with a four-month editorial and reporting consulting job. The agency wanted series of people-centred journalistic stories with compelling photos and audios, focusing on persons at the mercy of global warming.

The agency subsequently sent me an email. The email requested for my social media handles. A zoom meeting followed that. We discussed the assignment into details. It was not the first time my social media handles have been requested, but it further strengthened my resolve to watch what I post, and how I respond to divergent views.

It is also important to say I do not suffer fools; if you come to disrespect me for my position on a subject(s), I will either block you or open fire. That I do very well!

Unless I decide to ignore and not even block you.  The lust for social media stardom and gangsterism comes with severe side effects, often fuelled by keyboard warriors with baby-feet like data.

Our democracy encourages divergent views, and so far as it is done in a respectful manner, everyone will be at peace. But if one allows his ego to be fuelled by the applause of abusive bandits, then the night will be long. Such a person may be showing himself half-naked in a marketplace reserved for the auctioning of human excreta.

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