News in the digital age

Gone are the days when you read an article in a newspaper watch the news and comment on it to your family. Today everybody has a voice and can voice their opinions for the whole world to see.

Let us take the recent hostage situation in Australia which has created the #illridewithyou initiative:

The #illridewithyou campaign has promoted much discussion all over the world it seems.  The commentary seems to fall mainly into 2 categories, for and against (as is the case with everything).  This all came about due to a facebook post regarding a personal indecent that took place when the news of the hostage situation broke. A random act of kindness on the part of Rachael Jacobs sparked a viral response on the internet.

The first posts regarding this where mostly positive but very soon the negative posts started. Ranging from “left wing, pro Muslim propaganda” to “Why are people worrying about something that may happen to some Muslims in Australia instead of the victims?”

What amazes me is the pure hate in so many of the negative posts. Here we have Australians coming together to make the Muslim population feel welcome and safe in their country of residence.  Reading the negative posts you could easily think that they are being forced to take part in this initiative or that it is going to cost them money. Or a first born child, maybe?

The reason for me bringing up this event is simple. Why is it that people that scream the loudest rarely do anything? The #illridewithyou initiative can in no way harm anyone or infringe on their rights. In fact it is possible that movements like this decrease the chances of future violence.

Terrorism does not come out of a vacuum; terrorism comes from hate and anger. As a hypothetical, let us say thatRachael Jacobs sat minding her own business and never spoke to the Muslim lady that was removing her religious attire. Let us say that on the way home she was attacked by some drunk lout and died… Let us say that she has a teenage son – Another terrorist is born…

I am all for freedom of speech but at what point do you draw the line? I wonder what percentage of people would voice their opinions face to face instead of in a forum? 

To all the people out there with negative comments regarding #illridewithyou, I have two questions for you.

What have YOU done to make the situation any better?

How do you think that spreading your hate/bigotry and or intolerance helps anybody?