Maria Degtereva Friend or foe About how people flock on social networks 31.01.2023, 08:08

Author William Golding has a novel called Lord of the Flies. If no one has studied there, children fall on the island as a result of a plane crash. And then miraculous metamorphoses take place – the still peaceful civilized people of yesterday split into two camps and a natural dehumanization occurs. Two children die, many begin to worship the Beast Cult. The strongest image of the book is the pig’s head attached to a stick that the characters carry in front of them.

It is also frightening that these mechanisms of the human psyche are shown in the example of children of primary and secondary school age. Innocent is actually at the beginning of the book, of course.

Today I observe exactly this process in social networks. And it doesn’t matter what ideas guide people. The philosopher Georgy Pomerants has this saying: “The devil begins with foam on the lips of an angel who goes to war for a holy cause.”

I understand that the political and economic situation in the country today is not easy. But when I look at adults, when I look at people on the Internet who are ready to wish death on strangers, curse them with their last words, I think of something: maybe it didn’t happen that easily? Do I not imagine that in both ideological camps I am putting a pig’s head on a stick, the most desperate, zealous warriors for all good carry it before them? I repeat on both sides.

And don’t we collectively deserve something worse? Once upon a time, in just a few seconds of any discussion, a subtle touch of civilization flies from well-fed and generally satisfied people.

I do not share the views of many stars and opinion leaders who have passed away today about their country. But in my worst nightmare, I can’t even imagine how I would curse and insult someone I don’t know just because he said nonsense.

Sometimes the mass user simply does not seem to understand: a famous or even very popular person is not a poster, not a picture on a monitor or television, but exactly the same as you, made of flesh and blood. He can read, words can hurt him, especially the words of an unthinking, unthinking crowd.

You wrote rudeness and rudeness, scrambled eggs, drank beer and went to bed. Several thousand others did the same. And this avalanche will fall on one person alone, be close to relatives and friends at least a thousand times – everyone is alone against mass hatred.

This is a great effect: everyone watched the movie “Scarecrow”, of course, many sympathized with the main character. I mean, people in general aren’t that bad.

But when it comes to an older musician or actor who doesn’t understand politics (he was taught differently throughout his life), all humanistic attitudes seem to be out of place here. The same Beast Sect awakens. A pig’s head attached to a stick begins to appear. Only in every single user who joins the war for a holy cause.

And okay, actors – it is considered shamelessness to say any bad thing to a random opponent on social networks. A stranger is actually a person whose biggest sin is not to share someone else’s opinion.

And more – the temperature of the expressions of the mass Russian Internet user rises. It’s frightening to think what would happen if these people were granted real power, not just freedom of expression on the internet.

I have a marker that I use at times of change. I stole it from The Captain’s Daughter of Our All: “The best and most lasting changes are those that come from the improvement of morality without any violent upheaval. And those who devise impossible blows in our country are either young and do not know our people, or they are people with a heart of stone whose tiny head is half and their neck is a penny.

I would love for a Russian resident on the Internet to remember this phrase more often, before inflicting penalties on the head of an opponent or making plans to rebuild the world.

The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.