A couple of weeks ago, there was a very thought provoking panel in the sci fi mag 2000AD. In light of certain recent events, which I won't be going in to here, it set me thinking. Social Media can be a force for good or a very toxic medium indeed. I posted this tweet which summed up my thoughts on the matter, with the picture (from the story is called "Grey Area" and is well worth a read if sci fi floats your boat).
The central premise "Why does anyone do anything?" is an interesting one. We can guess, speculate and surmise. Lets start with this blog. Why do I write it? The reasons I write it now are completely different to the reasons for starting it. I started by writing a blog on the Barnet Times website. Initially this was meant to be mostly about local music and culture, but a blog post about Barnet Council received a huge response. I realised that there were a huge number of people who wanted to be informed about what the council was actually doing, rather than what the council's PR people were telling us. The control freaks running the council at the time bullied the Times into stopping the blog.
Top Councillors even went out to celebrate the end of my blogging career (that went well). I set this blog up, purely to demonstrate that they could not silence the truth. If they'd ignored me at the Times, I'd probably have given up when I got bored, but it became a matter of principle. When I realised I had a huge readership, I felt a responsibility to my audience. Initially I deliberately refused to engage with Twitter. I simply wrote the blogs and that was that. Some local people persuaded me that it was vital to start tweeting my blogs, to spread the word. Against my better judgement, I joined twitter. Initially, I had a policy of simply tweeting the blog and that was that. However people started to engage me, and to my horror, I found I couldn't escape. As I believe in free speech, I adopted a policy of blocking no one. Eventually the trolls and malign souls that inhabit the Twittersphere got the better of me and I adopted a policy of blocking anyone who irritates me. I don't mind healthy political debate, but people who simply want to shout with their fingers in their ears are a pain in the arse, so I concluded that it isn't worth wasting the Oxygen. Why do people troll? Why does anyone do anything? Who knows, who cares? Somewhere, someone right now is performing some despicable act, beyond your or my comprehension. Why? Only they will ever know. The same is true of odd behaviour on social media. My point is that speculation is often simply a waste of time. Some people just do strange stuff.
But there are some things we can fairly easily deduce. People who are highly politically motivated, especially at the right and left extremes are really not up for a rational, evidence based argument. Like religious zealots, they inhabit worlds of ever decreasing circles of fellow travellers, which usually diminish down to just themselves. By all means argue with them, if that is something you enjoy, but don't expect anything remotely resembling sense or reason in return. There is however a clarity of purpose for such individuals. You may dislike their views, but they are easy enough to understand.
Then there are the truly odd characters. Those who seemingly have no rational agenda. My father was a wise man. He imparted a lot of advice to me (some completely unwanted). He always said "People are actually pretty basic in their motivations, we survive, we have sex and we acquire wealth and power, if someone is doing something odd, they are doing it for one of those reasons".
The internet is not a safe place. It gives access wealth, power and sex. When you interact with strangers, the chances are they are either trying to change your mind, take your money or have sex with you. Political bloggers are generally trying to change your mind, or reinforce your commitment to a viewpoint. If people want your money then there are two ways that they might try. They they are plugging products etc in return for cash. There is nothing wrong with this. We all have to turn a buck. If a Tweeter or a Blogger is writing about food, travel, etc, then they will continually be bombarded with offers to plug products. The text below is typical, I chose it purely because it was the most recent one I received. If I was in Bristol, I'd probably go there because it sounds fantastic.
Turtle Bay brings a taste of Caribbean traditions to the UK this Easte
This
Easter there’s something for everyone at Turtle Bay. The Caribbean
restaurant and bar has launched an exclusive new cocktail that will
tickle your taste buds and blow any diet out of the water and there will
be free kite making kits available for the kids too.
‘Rum
Rabbit Rum’ is the latest alcoholic concoction that will be hopping its
way onto the cocktail menu for the Easter period, from Monday 8th to
Monday 22nd April. The scintillating selection of ingredients deliver a
delicious combination of Caribbean flavours including Pussers (rum),
white cacao and coconut milk.
If
that’s not mouth-watering enough, the signature drink will also include
a scoop of chocolate ice cream and will be topped off with a piece of
brownie and a Caribbean dumpling dipped in rum caramel sauce. Even the
rim of the glass is dipped in rum caramel making it the ultimate Easter
treat, with a Caribbean twist.
A
popular tradition in the Caribbean over the Easter period is to gather
as a family and fly kites together. To celebrate this and so everyone
can get involved in this fun pastime, children* will receive a free kite
making kit so they can put their creative skills to the test. A great
surprise for the little turtles when they order from the kid’s menu and
it’ll be a bonus for the mums and dads out there if it keeps them
occupied too, even if it’s just for a little bit. But you’ll need to
hurry – once the kite making kits have gone, they’re gone!
Of
course, the incredible Turtle Bay menu will be available over the
Easter period so you can sample the delicious delights it has to offer
to round off your visit. From Caribbean curries such as the curry goat,
to meats that are marinated for 24 hours in Turtle Bay’s signature jerk
mix and finished over open flames, this is Caribbean food at its best.
With so much to enjoy at your local Turtle Bay this Easter, book your table now: www.turtlebay.co.uk
*The
Easter kite making kit is suitable for children aged four and over and
only provided when a meal is purchased from the Little Turtles menu.
I daresay that if I wanted, I could blag a free lunch on the basis that they got in touch. Maybe, I'll get my brother who live down there to review it. If someone is plugging stuff for large companies, they are probably getting a kickback of some sort, it's not a problem, if you want to subscribe to a fairly random advertising feed.
Then there are the people who are scamming you. These people want to make contact, get your personal details and steal your cash. This could be through fake websites offering too good to be true offers, that nick your credit card. It could be by befriending you or offering non existent services. It could be by supplying Internet services that will cost money and deliver nothing. There is a train of thought that if people are too lazy to check out people and companies before they part with money, it is their own stupidity, but scammers are crafty. They build false or dodgy profiles and tweet stuff for companies they have no association with to give an aura of legitimacy. For my business, I've seen numerous claims that people are "internationally famous artists", represent "major labels" or have "amazing track records of success". Generally a little bit of internet digging (search their name and where they claim to be from as a start) will often be most revealing. Ask for references, verification , etc. If people are bona fide, they will have no problem providing these. There are all manner of other scams, all of which end in a call for cash.
Then there are sexual predators. For me, grown up people who have profile pictures that look like kids and tweet about stuff that most of us grow out of when we are 12 is a massive worry, especially when there is a calculated attempt to obscure the age profile and identity of the account owner. When you interact with a stranger you never really know if they are 15 or 55. What we can say is that most 15 year olds don't tweet about real ale, pies at football and prostate cancer and as for what most 15 year olds tweet about, I have no idea. It is a judgement call, but look out for red flags. The reason so many priests, scout leaders and Radio 1 DJ's got away with stuff is because they were embedded in the community as fine upstanding people. That is why we have DBS checks etc these days. All I can really suggest is that you caution your kids and suggest to them that anyone that they meet on the Internet who wants to share "secrets" is most likely a very dangerous person. Remind you children that when you share a secret, that person has power over you.
We really have to be careful. My sister recently had an extremely unfortunate experience where a very disturbed person used a picture of her 14 year old son that they found on her Facebook profile to cause her a significant amount of upset, I can't say more, but make sure that your Facebook profile is secure and make sure only people you trust can see anything that you wouldn't want a stranger posting maliciously on Twitter.
Of course all of this is a judgement call for you. My advice is to be very careful.
And why do I still write a blog? Because I enjoy it most of the time.
.
