Although I’ve always been fully aware that racism is alive and kicking, for a while I might have been living under the comfortable delusion that it’s only the ignorant and uneducated that become big fat racists.  Thanks to social media which has given everyone a personal loudspeaker to mouth off, my delusion has just has crumbled into tiny little pieces.  

The amount of racist comments and tweets that I’ve across lately, even from seemingly educated and open-minded people, is to say the least disgusting. What’s more is that when something is said online, especially on social media, for some reason it’s not taken too seriously.

‘That’s just the internet,’ I’m told, whenever I question why authorities don’t treat racist comments made online in the same way they would had they been said in a public space.

And the sad thing is that mainstream media is picking up on this laissez faire attitude, and in its insatiable hunger for web hits, some have started to use their online branches to fire racism instead of reporting or discouraging racist behaviour…so long as they get the hits.  

Last week, TVM’s website had the bright idea (not) of uploading a video that somebody took with their phone at Mater Dei. The title read “F’Mater Dei: Sirjan jippretendi li jinqeda minghajr ma jistenna.” Underneath the video there was a short description saying that a Syrian man who was waiting at Mater Dei’s dental clinic made a scene and a fuss because he didn’t want to wait his turn. The description went on to say that the man raised his voice and insulted the security person.

Apart from the fact that when you watch the video there’s nothing of the sort happening, I cannot understand how anyone in the newsroom could have considered this piece of information newsworthy and important enough to be carried by our national broadcaster’s news portal.  

I’m sure that queuing and waiting arguments happen all the time all over the world, and had this guy been Maltese, we all would have agreed that the video is of no news value whatsoever. But because the man in question wasn’t Maltese, the page got over 1000 shares and a disgusting amount of racist comments.

But of course, the story wasn’t carried on the eight o’clock news, because apparently it’s ok to spew racism online, but not on TV.

Whilst no one questions the power of social media when it’s used to raise thousands of Euro for a good cause or when a funny video goes viral, or when naked selfies make their way to the wrong hands, when it comes to online racist behaviour we fob it off and take it lightly.

But why should racism be treated differently just because it’s in the form of an online status as opposed to let’s say a billboard? Racism is racism, no matter what medium it is on and if we let racist behaviour go unchecked, we risk normalizing it, and we all know what that leads to.

In today’s day and age we use the Internet to make new friends, to learn new things, to meet lovers, announce weddings, pregnancies, look for things and find things. It is so much part of our lives that we can’t keep treating it like it’s something separate, so, if something is unacceptable to be broadcast on TV, or shouted out at the top of our voices in Republic Street, then it should also be unacceptable to say online.