Have you ever been asked which decade you would live in, if you had the choice? Well, I have - a few times, in fact - and whichever decade I'm in when I'm asked is the one I'll pick. Why? Because I believe that there are many ways that the world is improving and moving forwards. Knowing what I know, and feeling how I feel, I don't think I could move backwards. My sensibilities wouldn't allow it.
That said, we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to making the world a better place. Progress . . . it's an interesting thing, isn't it? Because the goal posts keep shifting - they need to - and this means that, even when progress is achieved in one sense, there is still work to be done.
I'm a glass half full kind of person who believes that she can make a difference. But, bloody hell, there are things in this life that make me feel desperate at times. If you've had an eye on Twitter very recently, you will have seen Sky News kicking the hornet's nest by cocking up the reporting of their interview with Malorie Blackman (YA author, Children's Laureate and curator of YALC, the UK's first ever YA Literature Convention). They interviewed her, they chose to use an incorrect and sensationalist headline, and then, by the look of it, all hell broke loose. It sounds like Sky News apologised for their mistake. But the damage was already done. Because Malorie Blackman had already started to receive all manner of abusive messages based on that incorrect headline.
And I suppose what I want to ask is: how is this allowed to happen? I mean, we've all heard stories about people getting trolled online - at least, I know I have - these stories have been popping up for years now. What I can't figure out is what's being done about it. Have any laws changed to prevent this from happening? Is there a way for us to protect ourselves from it? What should we do if it happens to us? Do social networks (where this form of abuse is most likely to occur) offer any sort of emotional support to people who have experienced trolling? I'm not being obtuse here, I'm asking these questions because I genuinely don't know the answers.
Because, of course, if someone is set on tearing you down, rationalising with them will not help you. Chances are, they are not rational. Chances are, they are not reasonable. Any reasonable person would have read that Sky News headline and thought "Hmm . . . You claim Malorie Blackman said this? Malorie Blackman who has experienced racism first-hand? Malorie Blackman who campaigns for equality and diversity and individualism? Hmm . . . Nope, don't believe it."
The difficult thing here is that, for every one person who is capable of rationalising in situations like this, there is at least one person who either isn't capable or isn't willing to be capable. So what do we need to do to help those people see that what they're doing is not OK? How can their behaviour be managed, improved?
This issue? It has got to be something that we force to change.
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