Get Your House in Order
Theoretically, the fallout from the Christchurch mass shooting should be far reaching. There is at present an opportunity to address numerous problems and issues while the tragedy still has both political and social momentum. Because “it is the doom of man that he forgets”. 24-hour news culture has severely strained the public’s attention span. Plus it is in the interests of numerous institutions for the news cycle to move on, because current scrutiny is highlighting how culpable they are. The tabloid press, media commentators, tech companies and internet communities have been found wanting for a while and last weeks carnage is now raising questions over their involvement in the growing culture of hate and therefore their potential regulation. This may be the last chance for many to put their own house in order before the establishment does. And considering the knee-jerk, ham-fisted nature of contemporary western politics, the latter is not likely to be either subtle, efficient or even beneficial.
Theoretically, the fallout from the Christchurch mass shooting should be far reaching. There is at present an opportunity to address numerous problems and issues while the tragedy still has both political and social momentum. Because “it is the doom of man that he forgets”. 24-hour news culture has severely strained the public’s attention span. Plus it is in the interests of numerous institutions for the news cycle to move on, because current scrutiny is highlighting how culpable they are. The tabloid press, media commentators, tech companies and internet communities have been found wanting for a while and last weeks carnage is now raising questions over their involvement in the growing culture of hate and therefore their potential regulation. This may be the last chance for many to put their own house in order before the establishment does. And considering the knee-jerk, ham-fisted nature of contemporary western politics, the latter is not likely to be either subtle, efficient or even beneficial.
It sadly did not come as a surprise that Brenton Tarrant is steeped in numerous aspects of the unsavoury side of internet culture. Namely, 8chan, shitposting and the alt-right. A “manifesto” allegedly attributed to him is filled with the usual weaponised use of memes to try and obfuscate and confuse. And then there’s the fact that he was allegedly a gamer and conversant with You Tube sub-culture to consider. While old school politicians, mainstream journalists and senior members of the public struggle to catch up, those of us who are more familiar with fluid and rapidly evolving nature of internet culture are facing the stark reality that it played a part in shaping this killer’s beliefs. Furthermore gaming, online communities and You Tube personalities are some of the many intersecting circles of a wider and ultimately harmful Venn diagram. Memes aren’t necessarily “just harmless, movements such as #gamergate aren’t purely about “ethics in gaming journalism” and when You Tube personalities say racist, sexist or homophobic things, it not just “banter” or “a joke”.
Tarrant stated, “Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie!” just before he started shooting. Felix Kjellberg has made a statement disavowing any association with him, his ideology and being “sickened” by his comments. However, Kjellberg has used racist language in the past, as well as given shout-outs to questionable individuals. With 89 million plus YouTube subscribers who are predominantly young, male and white, he has a lot of reach. Then there are other personalities and channels that cater and court this specific demographic. One filled with poorly skilled, disaffected young males, struggling with emotional literacy and social awkwardness. Add to this a growing adversarial culture that eschews nuance and increasing zealotry in previously benign social interactions and pastimes such as fandom and there’s trouble. PC culture has failed and the pendulum has now swung the other way with populist bandwagons such as Brexit and MAGA. A perfect storm has been forming for a while and it appears to have now arrived.
It is both sad and ironic that the old cautionary mantra of “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” which has almost become hokey in recent years, has suddenly become alarming relevant again. Online communities, You Tube, Twitch, even game developers have not done enough (if indeed anything) to adequately police and moderate the communities they financially benefit from. They’ve hidden behind “freedom of speech”, claims they are not publishers and generally complained that the technology or man power required to do the job would be too difficult to manage and inefficient. And so we saw both Facebook and You Tube desperately trying to get in control of the continuous reposting of video content of the Christchurch shootings. “Why not just suspend all uploads during such circumstances?” some politicians have asked. The ensuing silence from the tech companies was deafening. And the real answer is money as anyone with a functioning intellect knows.
There are no simple reasons for the rise in hate crimes or easy explanations for such tragic events such as that in Christchurch. Nor are there any quick fixes. Multiple factors have contributed to an ongoing drip, drip, drip of populist rhetoric that have normalised racism, xenophobia and hatred of “the other”. Online culture has evolved quickly from a quirky, backwater niche to an unchecked, unpoliced “frontier town”. We now find that such an environment is dangerous and action needs to be taken. Codes of conduct need to be enforced, moderation is required and we must stop mollifying sanctions with bogus attempts at reform, because we still want everyones money. We all need to play our part and call out those who peddle hatred. We also need to be smart and ensure we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. With regard to the bigger players such as You Tube and Facebook, if they don’t take real steps now to prevent abuse of their services, they will find control rested away from them and given to the politicians. Not the most desirable solution. The time for “whataboutery” and generally prevaricating is over. There is guilt by association and in some cases blood on the hands of those who profit from the status quo. So to all involved, get you house in order. While you still can. The consequences for not doing so don’t bear thinking about.
A Year in Social Media
The internet is awash with competing forms of social media, all offering a platform for you to interact with your peers. Although I feel that there are a lot of positive aspects to all these mediums, there is also a downside. Need I really catalogue all the iniquities of Twitter or Facebook? Let it suffice to say that the internet giveth and it also taketh away. Social media is like any other tool and therefore has to be used appropriately. If used correctly then it can be informative, entertaining and a great way to broaden your horizons. The alternative is a portal into a world of anger, stupidity and shit. 2015 was the year that I feel I finally got my personal relationship with social media right.
The internet is awash with competing forms of social media, all offering a platform for you to interact with your peers. Although I feel that there are a lot of positive aspects to all these mediums, there is also a downside. Need I really catalogue all the iniquities of Twitter or Facebook? Let it suffice to say that the internet giveth and it also taketh away. Social media is like any other tool and therefore has to be used appropriately. If used correctly then it can be informative, entertaining and a great way to broaden your horizons. The alternative is a portal into a world of anger, stupidity and shit. 2015 was the year that I feel I finally got my personal relationship with social media right.
I have never really seen any practical benefits to me or my writing in using Facebook or Google +. Until recently all posts that were made on Contains Moderate Peril were automatically posted to both platforms. However this failed to bring readers to the primary website and resulted in a separate audience growing on both alternate outlets. Effectively this increased the work load as there were now three platforms to be marketed to and engaged with. This struck me a counterproductive, so this autumn I ceased to use both these mediums and focused upon generating traffic solely for Contains Moderate Peril. Abandoning these two social media platforms proved quite easy. Facebook has become increasingly obtrusive in recent years and I didn’t care for the way it continued to harvest my phone for information for its own benefit.
For the present twitter continues to be my primary social media of choice. The rule of thumb with this particular platform seems to be you get back what you put in. Your personal twitter experience comes down to who you follow and how you engage with them. Some high profile twitter users do interact with their followers. Others simply use it as an impersonal means of marketing and promoting. Other unofficial “rules” to consider is it’s not mandatory to follow someone back just because they follow you. It’s also worth remembering that if you don’t like what someone is saying then stop following them. Despite what some folk would have you believe, twitter is not a microcosm of popular sentiment and is not a definitive litmus test on any weighty issue. Twitter amplifies extremes and it’s worth remembering that “empty vessels make the most noise”.
I genuinely enjoy the banter I share on twitter and like interacting with a broad and diverse group of people from around the world. However an incident this year raised the question as to whether I was spending too much time in an online echo chamber. Should I include news feeds and political commentary in my twitter timeline? Was it incongruous to flit from the ephemeral to weightier issues? Should I segregate such content or integrate it further into my twitter feeds? I eventually decided to move some of the more challenging material to a different twitter account. As I use TweetDeck I can display separate timelines in multiple columns; when required content can be temporarily muted.
Finally late in the year I discovered Slack. The Gaming and Entertainment Network set up a group and I was invited to join. Although I was aware of this team collaboration tool and had heard many positive things about it, it wasn’t until I used it did I fully realise how flexible a platform it is. It’s ideal for sharing all manner of material within a group and project planning. Or if you prefer it’s also a great way to talk shit with your friends. I can see this particular platform featuring heavily in all future undertakings both by Contains Moderate Peril and the Burton & Scrooge podcast. If you haven’t used it I would urge you to check it out.
Social media like any other communication product seems to have a distinct pattern to its lifecycle. There are earlier adopters that enjoy the benefits of using a product that is not yet mainstream. However sooner or later the world and the wife will discover the new platform and it will inevitably start to become more commercial and burdened by the lowest common denominator. Sponsored tweets are a prime example of this this process. I shall continue to use twitter in 2016 although I do think that may be it has peaked within this framework. Therefore I shall be keeping my eye out for the next emerging social media platform and may well break my own habit of not becoming an early adopter.