The culture of nastiness: insults have replaced arguments in political debate – Stuff

Andrea Vance is a senior journalist with Stuff.

OPINION: In the last week I received an email from a man who seemed to be deeply angry with me.

It was borderline incomprehensible, but his rage appeared to stem from my failure to respond to previous correspondence.

I have no idea who he is. And by the tone of his note, and the insults he battered into the keyboard, I have no wish to.

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Maybe Michael did write to me before. If his emails didnt end up in my aggressively filtered Spam folder, I probably did take no notice. I have a strict policy of ignoring dickheads.

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One in 10 female journalists have sought medical or psychological help after being abused.

In truth, years and years of online abuse means I rarely read correspondence that stems from my weekly columns. The messages that do have value are lost in the maelstrom of vitriol, misogyny, and xenophobia.

Female reporters get a disproportionate amount of abuse. A Unesco report published last year laid bare a problem that targets every woman journalist. One in 10 sought medical or psychological help, one in three self-censors.

You may have recently become aware of this epidemic of online violence, mainly because Covid-19 has seen it spread to our male colleagues. Now it is a real problem.

Upsettingly for my correspondents, I do not self-censor. I am emotionally numb to the abuse. I care not that you are a man (they are always men) with a strong opinion and a keyboard. Your long, potty-mouthed tirade was in vain, it was most likely never read.

In my small way, I am breaking the cycle. Being rude to someone generally provokes a bad-mannered reply, setting in motion a sequence of increasingly discourteous interactions.

Social media is an accelerant, spewing this anger out into the world. Platforms make it easy for users to instantaneously hurl insults, and difficult to hold them to account. People are sucked into a vortex, arguing politics that spirals from mean-spirited to ugly and then plain nasty. Its at once addictive and exhausting.

The spite is so casual, Im not even sure these wannabe politicos and supporters even recognise it as such. They malign, denigrate and defame without a second thought. There is something dehumanising about their behaviour.

The disrespectful dialogue is reflective of real-life politics. Insults have replaced arguments in debate.

Last week alone, ACT leader David Seymour made a nasty personal attack on microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles. Te Pti Mori called ACT bigots. Christopher Luxon characterised the poor as bottom feeders.

Hamilton City Council is redrawing its code of conduct after one councillors inappropriate online comments and personal insults drew a slew of complaints.

Politicians abuse each other and in turn are abused by their rivals supporters. Weve seen recent debate about the slow-burning hatred directed at Jacinda Ardern. The conversation was largely sparked by venomous language used by the protesters who occupied Parliaments grounds last month.

But its not just women Nationals Chris Bishop receives eye-watering levels of abuse from those on the Left. Simon Bridges wrote movingly about how criticism of his accent affected him.

Politics has always been a nasty sport. But today it seems brutish. And what does all this toxicity achieve - apart from more ad dollars in the bank accounts of tech moguls?

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Former National Party leader Simon Bridges was reduced to tears by digs about his accent.

It doesnt take a huge leap of imagination to see the tangible effects of this hostility. The hatred spilled from online accounts onto the placards displayed on Parliaments lawns during the anti-mandate protest.

The sheer strength of their malice seemed to justify and embolden their extreme behaviour. The ugly mood has awful consequences: 40 police officers were injured restoring order.

We have already seen violence against public figures: James Shaw was punched in the face in 2019. MPs have had to increase their security. The murder of British MP Jo Cox is a terrible reminder of the darkness of politics.

Jericho Rock-Archer/Stuff

The area around Parliament was the scene of violence as police removed protesters.

So what can be done? Likely nothing. Social media normalises hatred and yet plays a larger and larger role in political processes. Given Mark Zuckerberg created a website to rank hot women, I dont think we can look to him or his company to dam this torrent of horrid.

Mainstream political reporting thrives on conflict. Protesting in dramatic and disruptive ways captures attention. There is no incentive to break out of incivility, to recalibrate politics. To be nice.

And there is a paradox. Any culture shift whether it be political correctness or Arderns bid to restore kindness to politics has backfired. Attempts to police behaviour or avoid offensive or inflammatory language has further fuelled the nastiness: the snowflakes hating on the boomers. The Deplorables attacking The Woke.

On it goes the venting and ranting, no matter how irrational or hurtful in order to ensure a healthy debate and the maintenance of free speech.

Just leave me out of it.

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The culture of nastiness: insults have replaced arguments in political debate - Stuff