Online bile and rage won’t restore hope in our battered republic

A FEW years ago I and countless others believed the ‘digital age’ would usher in a new era of direct democracy and that, with the advent of blogs, every man, woman and child had the potential to be their own publisher and thereby capable of winning public support for their chosen causes and ideas – new or old.

Now however, I’m not so sure; all too often online comment is angry, destructive and hurtful. I have frequently seen horrible and hurtful things written, sometimes about people I know from personal experience to be honest, honourable and totally committed to the welfare of our country.

At first glance, my reaction was that these comments were merely a response to the various crises in which we find ourselves embroiled, represented nothing more than an honest expression of the public mood and, as such, were to be embraced wholeheartedly as a welcome new dimension to our public discourse.