Is Civility Even Possible On The Internet?

I was pursuing the local news today and I saw an article on CBS New York about a surge in COVID cases in Monmouth County New Jersey. Because I live in Monmouth County the story caught my eye. So I decided to share it to the Facebook group that was established for those of us who live and work in Middletown New Jersey.

I thought I was potentially helping my neighbors by posting the article, which quoted the county health department reminding us to continue maintaining social distancing and to be vigilant about wearing masks. But it turned into a heated debate on the 28,000 member page about the veracity of such information.

People argued about whether or not the COVID is really as serious as we are being told by public health officials and the news media. And whether it was made up by Democrats to scare us to vote against Donald Trump.

It went on and on and on. To suggest that it became vitriolic would be a nice way of describing things.

It wasn’t until tonight that I logged back on to read the comments. Frankly I found what people said and how they addressed one another to be unhelpful and hurtful. Somehow the article’s posting served as an emotional trigger for many people. So I added a comment apologizing for sharing the article because it spurred so many personal attacks.