Sunday, September 13, 2009 by Charmaine
Going back to the idea of 'intimacy at a distance' from Week 4, I am reminded of a recent incident in which television writer James Moran received a number of personal threats when Torchwood killed off a character who was a particular fan favourite. Before the episode had even finished airing, his twitter account (@JamesMoran) and his blog had begun receiving what he describes as "spewing insults and passive aggressive nonsense, accusing me of deliberately trying to mislead, lie, and hurt people".
This isn't exactly new, and I'm sure we've all heard of or come across similar incidents. But it highlights what I think is a potential danger in the immediate, intimate communication from a distance that new media allows. Particularly in the age of Twitter, which encourages broadcasting opinions and initial reactions, we may not be thinking before we speak. If the commenters needed to actually walk up to James Moran and make their accusations to his face, I would think most of them would have a) calmed down considerably in the time it took to reach him, and b) been more considerate about their words and its effect on a real person.
This problem does not necessarily have to be born out of malice. Last week I managed to stop myself from tweeting something that I realised - just in time - could've been offensive to one of my followers, a personal friend who is religious.
There's a risk in immediacy, especially at a distance. There are situations when our minds need to take time to process information before acting upon it.
This isn't exactly new, and I'm sure we've all heard of or come across similar incidents. But it highlights what I think is a potential danger in the immediate, intimate communication from a distance that new media allows. Particularly in the age of Twitter, which encourages broadcasting opinions and initial reactions, we may not be thinking before we speak. If the commenters needed to actually walk up to James Moran and make their accusations to his face, I would think most of them would have a) calmed down considerably in the time it took to reach him, and b) been more considerate about their words and its effect on a real person.
This problem does not necessarily have to be born out of malice. Last week I managed to stop myself from tweeting something that I realised - just in time - could've been offensive to one of my followers, a personal friend who is religious.
There's a risk in immediacy, especially at a distance. There are situations when our minds need to take time to process information before acting upon it.