Think first, type later

There is something about social media which seems to particularly attract those who live by the motto of shooting off at the mouth first and worrying about the consequences afterwards. Or in the case of online fora, it’s ‘type first, think later’ (when really, that should be the other way around).

And because certain specimens of human nature can be found the world over, let me give you the latest example from Italy where, following Italy’s win over England, the Vice-President of the Italian Senate Maurizio Gasparri fired off a charming tweet directed towards English people, saying that they should “go ... themselves” and labelled them as ... “pretentious and pricks”.

Here is the original in all its glory:

Fa piacere mandare a fare .... gli inglesi, boriosi e coglioni

— Maurizio Gasparri (@gasparripdl) June 15, 2014

And yes, of course, it went viral, you don’t even have to ask.

The Guardian quoted a columnist who pointed out the obvious:

“After the insults toward the English – calling the foreign minister, journalists, ex-ministers and everyday citizens ‘pricks’, it would be appropriate to take Twitter out of his hands for awhile,” wrote David Allegranti in Wired Italy. “For his own good, and also for ours …”

Excellent suggestion Mr Allegranti, which I would like to borrow and pass on to our own politicians and others who hold public office.

Joe Grima, who seems to have gone haywire all over Facebook because the NGO aditus suggested giving the vote to immigrants, immediately comes to mind. I mean honestly, keep this man away from a keyboard and yes, please, remove him from his position as ‘special envoy to the World Tourism Organisation’ (whatever that means).

Because guess what Joe? By writing what you wrote in Maltese it does not mean it cannot be translated and made known to the WTO, who I’m guessing does not look too kindly on those who speak so aggressively about those who help immigrants.

Once it has been reported in the English-language media then that’s it, game over. Much in the same way that Gasparri’s tweet was rapidly made known to the English at whom it was directed.

People in public life who do not know how to filter their thinking processes but feel compelled to type out their emotions all over the Internet are a diplomatic hazard and a political liability. Sure, it creates a certain buzz for a while as we all ‘share’ and talk about it on the lines of “he/she said WHAT?!”, but it also points to something which I have noticed for quite a while now (and not just by public figures but by ordinary people all across the board). The relative ease with which words can be “sent” out into the ether have basically put a stop to whatever tact and politeness was left. It has also extinguished any semblance of civilised debate on even the most innocuous topics.

There was a time when words used to be weighed carefully before being put into writing, but these days, because we are literally writing all the time as we tap out our thoughts to complete strangers, the inhibitions about what we write have been loosened.

I’m not saying we have to be prim and proper and tiptoe around issues or express ourselves in stilted tones, because part of the fun of Twitter and Facebook is that you can be informal and casual. But there is a huge difference between witty remarks, tongue-in-cheek digs or irony and the kind of in your face rudeness which spirals out of control until a thread almost self-destructs with the amount of hostility sizzling on the screen. I sometimes expect to see smoke coming out of my PC after reading through some exchanges, compounded by numerous !!!!! and CAPITAL LETTERS.

There is a lot of aggression out there which seems to only require the minimum of triggers to erupt; and I don’t know whether it’s because having the last word and being offensive, snide and snarky is considered “cool” or clever, or whether it’s because when all sound argument fails, people have to resort to personal insults and being obnoxious. My own personal bête noir is when people who don’t agree with me about something, rather than argue the point, decide to switch to this insufferable patronising tone. 

And yes, I’m afraid it’s mostly men. I’m going to need to go to the dentist soon with the amount of times I have to grit my teeth and prevent myself from saying something really, really rude back. But I don’t, because online (just as in real life), I try my best to exercise self-control and most of the time, I just don’t answer, preferring to let my silence speak for itself. 

That does not mean I would not have typed out an incredibly satisfying reply, replete with expletives if only to get it out of my system.  I then look at it for a few seconds to savour the moment and slowly press that wonderful, magic button, “delete”. 

Maybe if more public figures were to discover this button, they would not land in such hot water.