Scunnered

What a scunner the last week has been. I had been concerned about behaviour on mainstream media and social media for some time. Last week there was a surge in the use of bad language, aggressive posts and comments and a total lack of respect for other people’s point of view.

I was amazed at how many people had suddenly become experts on our voting system. I am fairly sure that they cannot all be correct, but people have convinced themselves they are right.

As we discovered in the council elections when we tried to ask the electorate to vote SNP 1 and 2 (if there were 2 candidates standing in ward) we did not get the results we hoped for. The electorate do not like to be told how to vote in local elections as they are more likely to know the candidates personally and want to use one of their votes for an Independent candidate, or indeed a candidate of another party who is working well with the community.

So, I kind of got why there were pop up Indy parties last year. I wasn’t personally in agreement, but we are a democracy. Money was raised and spent. Meetings were held and publicity put out. We had got used to them being around and most of my feed was quite amicable. 6 weeks until the election and another Indy pop up appears. Before we know it the first 2 Indy parties have packed up and given their blessing to the latest one.

Now I can be as conspirative, as the next person. All variations have been put out there. I care not what is behind it but what has upset me the past few days is the escalation in unacceptable behaviour. Personal attacks on people’s personal pages where nothing written had asked for these comments. Shouty hard tone and abusive language. This is something that has been seen before when certain people gain supporters for their grievance. Untruths and downright nonsense being spread. Just because you can provide a link to a story does not make it true.

I was brought up to think that if you need to use offensive language and behaviour then you have lost your argument. If you speak to me like that I will simply walk away. The other thing I was taught is that swearing shows an extremely poor command of language.

This past week I have seen posts from friends stating they will unfriend anyone behaving as above and leave groups that allow this type of behaviour. I have also started doing this as I came to realise that it was the bullying, lying and hostility on social media that was making me not able to be productive. It’s bad enough doing what we can to help the virus infections levels remain low without all this going on as well. Was saddened to hear that the Wee Ginger Dug has had to stop doing his blog due to the offensive comments being left. Blogging is about encouraging people to engage and debate. It should always be done with respect. If you vehemently disagree with someone, stop following them. We all have the right to hold the views we believe in.

A quote on media this week from Denzil Washinton summed up my feelings at the moment:-

With so many things coming back in style, I can’t wait until morals, respect and intelligence become a trend again. 

PS. The comments on this blog are monitored. Play nice and don’t waste your time