GuelphToday received the following letter to the editor from Jay Wilson regarding recent coverage of online harassment of a yoga instructor who hosted a class for Black students at the University of Guelph.
The recent story concerning the clash between the University of Guelph’s Selam Debs and journalist Jonathan Kay, regarding racism lead me to write this letter.
As the saying goes, once the cat is out of the bag you can’t really stuff it back in.
It appears social media is here to stay, yet time and again we witness social destruction, rather than a better understanding of personal perspectives and an acceptance of a differing of opinions.
While I am no psychologist, my guess is that the reason for social media’s creation of striking divisiveness is that social cues; body language, eye contact, touching, are absent, leading to a breakdown of human compassion. Twitter, Facebook, Meta, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Tik Tok, et al eliminate “social” and “human” leaving a hollow shell in which debate becomes raw to the point of facts becoming untruths. (Is there such a thing as Truth Social?)
Social media is a platform that encourages vitriol. This anger is what determines the algorithm, the ‘FEED’ as they say, stuffing one with hatred and anger that appeals specifically to the member or friend or whatever one is called, obliterating any possibility for open dialogue and understanding.
Maybe like Earth Day, we should set aside a day to take a time out. Have everyone experience what it is like to have a day without social media. Just one day.
Social media I believe has lead us to conclude that body cameras on police will somehow ensure fairness and prove beyond a doubt what actually occurred. Unfortunately I am sceptical: I don’t believe seeing is necessarily believing. Truth is much more than just witnessing. Truth involves digging deeper, analysis, dialogue, sharing, and understanding. Truth is not a short video clip: journalism is not just re-posting twitter videos.
I wonder what would be the result if Selam and Jonathan, sat down together and discussed racism face to face? Maybe the University should invite them to do just that.
– Jay Wilson
