I saw a term used this morning to describe a certain behavior on the internet. I thought it was very appropriate. Internet vigilantism. Ive seen it happen a lot, and so have you. Someone posts a negative story about something or someone, and total strangers start sharing the negativity and posting demeaning, threatening comments about situations they dont even know are true. The story takes on a life of its own, it goes viral, and so do the comments. I watched this happen recently to a business. Someone posted a negative story and experience and the next thing I saw, people were threatening the business owner, thousands had made very harsh judgements about this business and posted negative reviews, all without knowing the whole story, the true story. The thousands that jumped on the bandwagon, had never even heard of this place before , never mind used its services. It didnt matter that the business not only had video tape showing what really happened, and a signed release, the Internet vigilantes had decided this business should be either be burnt to the ground or shut down. As the truth stated to come out, even on a news story, it was too late. The damage was done, and many of the people that were inciting violence against this person and her family, didnt care. It seems that things dont have to be even remotely true on the internet to destroy peoples lives. Once the genie is out of the bottle, its out. The truth never seems to get as much attention as the negative. I was thinking about all this this morning as I watch a business owner try and rebuild her life and her business after the Internet Vigilantees were done with her. Her life has been hurt tenfold by a story and post that wasnt true, and there is no real recourse. The people that shared and threatened and hurt her have moved on to the next victim, while she is left damaged. It just got me to thinking about what I share and comment on. I think in future I will be a little more discerning and ask myself some hard questions before sharing or posting unless its a just silly picture of a cat eating Nutella. I dont like the idea of spreading negativity, without truth, do you?
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 19:53:04 +0000
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