Hetty Douglas is suffering from a bad case of foot-in-mouth. The London-based artist created controversy last week when she added a photo to her Instagram story of three workmen in boots and tracksuits with the caption “These guys look like they got 1 GCSE”. The picture was smeared across Twitter after photographer Rhi Harper shared it while tweeting “And you look like a spoiled rich girl gentrifying south London”. The public’s response was viscous leaving Hetty with no choice other than to delete her social media accounts, meaning she’s in modern-day “hiding”.
While Ms. Douglas’ comments were classist and appalling, did she deserve to receive the volume of online hate forced upon her? Popular podcast “It Galz” reviewed the situation with presenters Jenny Claffey and Lindsay Hamilton saying that the online mob which shames these people is getting “closer and closer to home”. And they’re right. Online platforms, such as twitter, have given people a place to air their opinion and it can be said that it has become something of an online public court where people find justice in shaming those who made a mistake.
But then, can we allow ourselves to put on our blinkers and simply ignore the wrong-doings of other people? Write everything off as a mistake? In the case of George Hook, the so called “twitter-mob” succeeded in getting an apology from the Newstalk presenter after his controversial comments surrounding rape victims. He was also kicked off the peak radio time-slot in Ireland proving there is power in numbers. Yet was it because he was a public figure that people felt they could insult him and protest his opinions? The same goes for Donald Trump – is it that he is so famous we feel we can say anything about him? If the photograph of comedian Kathy Griffin holding the head of a decapitated Trump taught us anything, it’s that there are no nearly limits to what you can say or do about someone in the public eye.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Trump and George Hook are far from being on my Christmas card list, but I’m simply wondering when is it considered okay to gang up on someone for their controversial comments? Just how many followers do you need to have before you are dehumanized? As Lindsay Hamilton said in her podcast, this mob-mentality can “ruin (a) life in a few hours”. Yet on the flip-side it can also solve a problem and perhaps see the rightful ending of some careers (I for one wouldn’t protest the impeachment of Trump).The reality is the only way we can deal with the power in numbers is to form our own opinions. It’s the simple case of don’t believe everything you read. Rhi called Hetty Douglas “rich” on no basis other than an impression formed by an Instagram story, yet her misinformed opinion got eighteen thousand retweets. Many opinions on George Hook’s comments however, were justified. Each case is different and while there is power in numbers there’s not always truth in a tweet. As an old Chinese proverb says, “A wise man makes his own decisions. An ignorant man follows public opinion”.