It is incredible that in the year 2018, some people still need to be educated on how to use Facebook responsibly. In Malta, this applies mostly, although not exclusively, to those who comment about political matters. It seems some people simply cannot understand that Facebook is not a forum where one can say whatever comes to one’s mind without any constraints and limitations.

Facebook politics has become the order of the day. Some time ago, I was speaking to a person involved in political campaigning and the formulation of political party strategy. He told me that, today, Facebook is the most effective political tool to get one’s message through, even more effective than news sites.

Unfortunately, Facebook has become the domain where the most uneducated, rough and partisan political supporters vent their uncontrolled anger, frustrations and sheer hate at their political adversaries.

The situation has reached alarming proportions. Today, when you write something political on Facebook, chances are you will be personally attacked and the intention will be to humiliate and belittle you. Disdain and contempt for one’s political opponents has become the order of the day.

What is really worrying is that people who abuse others seem to enjoy doing so for the sake of it.

Why do I say this? Because it is crystal clear that, sometimes, people do not even read what was written before, rushing to post their insults on Facebook.

Recently, I was insulted by somebody who simply read the title and the caption of an article of mine posted on Facebook. Had he bothered to read the whole article, he would have realised how baseless his criticism was.

In my case, this has happened more than once and I am sure the same applies to those who write on a regular basis. This indicates that some people have got so used to insulting others they do not even bother to check what others are really saying.

Even more worrying is the fact that serious accusations are today hurled at one’s opponents without the least consideration of their import. For example, calling people “corrupt” has become a daily occurrence on Facebook. Unfortunately, even that ugly word xewwiex (inciter), which brings back ugly memories of the past, is finding its way back into the political vocabulary of some commentators.

When political leaders are given a status greater than their own political party, then there is something seriously wrong with politics

To be honest, I have my doubts about whether several of the roughest com-mentators on Facebook are simpletons, that is, sheep who follow their political leaders blindly and place them on a pedestal where they can look up to them to their hearts’ content.

For how else can you explain such bombastic and preposterous comments that appear daily on Facebook, where the leading political personalities are called “kings”, “saviours”, even blasphemously “gods”?

When I read such comments, my first reaction is to ask whether these people have any experience of politics that goes beyond attending mass meetings. I say this because the reality is that anybody who has first-hand experience of the political arena risks becoming a cynic after a few years.

When political leaders are given a status greater than their own political party, then there is something seriously wrong with politics and, even more seriously, with those people who make such outrageous comments on Facebook or elsewhere.

Of course, it is near to useless remarking about the fact that political tolerance has gone down the drain.

When will some people become mature enough to accept the fact that everybody is entitled to his or her political opinion?

Even some innocuous-looking comments on Facebook cause division and exclude those harbouring different political opinions. For example, starting the day on Facebook with the comment: “Good morning, reds” or “Good morning, blues”.

One also has to remember that Facebook is a social communication tool used by the younger generation.

What message are we imparting to the citizens of the future when we debate politics in a rough ‘no quarter given and none asked’ manner on Facebook?

One also cannot exclude mentioning the rude language that has become a daily feature of ‘debates’ between rival political supporters using this method of social communication. Are these the values we wish to impart to our younger generation?

I have already in the past appealed to all political parties to control their supporters and make a sustained effort to eliminate this cancer of hate and malignant comments on Facebook.

Members of the European Parliament, members of the Maltese House of Representatives, local councillors and political party officials should be the first to set an example. Unfortunately, sometimes the opposite is the case.

We cannot go on like this. We need to rediscover the meaning of political tolerance, respect and democratic values. We owe it to the generations of tomorrow.

Desmond Zammit Marmarà is a Balzan Labour councillor.

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