Online bully

I always post something positive on my Facebook pages everyday. I do this for my Twitter and my blog as well. My motivation is to encourage people to pick up something positive that may help them spend their day with a little encouragement and joy.

I get plenty of “comments” and “likes” and “shares”. Most comments are very encouraging, and they inspire me to continue doing what I do. And then again there are a few cyber or online bullies who would insult, bully and offend me because they find my thoughts disagreeable. When other people in the thread defend me or go against the cyber bully, he or she would go into another round of insults and offensive remarks. This really upsets everyone in the group.

In more than one occasion, I’ve been requested to block a particular offensive online bully. I’ve always maintained that debate in ideas is very good for intellectual discussion and development, but when I saw the bully’s persistence in insulting and offending others, I wrote him a warning telling him that I will block him from my page if he insists on insulting people. The bully suddenly stopped. This led to a realization.

Most people in social network sites are not as interested in proving a point as they are in making connections. Trust me, one billion-plus human beings from around the world don’t log on to Facebook to get into an argument. They log on to be connected with other people.

Online bullies are the rare exceptions, and I’ve become convinced that they should be banned. Online bullies bring their angst and despair into full view because they’re miserable and they want company. Author Leonard Sweet has a very interesting observation: “In the 1960s, when middle-class youth wanted to rebel, they grew beards and smashed stereos. When Amish youth wanted to protest in the 1960s, they shaved their beards and bought stereos. Culture shapes behavior and how we express our beliefs.”

Connection is one of the absolutes of life. We didn’t choose it; it’s hard-wired within us. God didn’t create us to live in isolation. Remember His words? “It is not good for man to be alone.” Abandoned souls will atrophy and die. Our well-being depends, for one, on our ability to connect with other human beings.

Sadly, social networking makes celebrities of people whose leading credential is attacking others.Have you seen how certain people of the Christian faith lambast and condemn fellow Christians because of their  (quote-unquote) faulty doctrine? Almost all well-known preachers are victims of this. And some of the cruelest remarks against them can be found in social networking sites. But these godly people don’t fight back, even while their offenders continue their onslaught. If only these online bullies had the courage to identify themselves, I’d give them this very simple advice: “Get a job! Do something useful with your life! Make yourself productive rather than just preying on non-retaliating godly people, and calling yourself a ‘Vanguard of Right Doctrines’ at the expense of those people!”

Faith isn’t just a matter of logic and learning, but also of personal experience and encounter with the Lord. But some people are so fixated on being theologically sound, they’ve become sound asleep when it comes to what God is doing or how He’s working.

Be kind, be respectful, and be gracious. This is how members of a community are supposed to behave.

As for the bully who has suddenly become silent, I hope he has repented, as we all should.

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