Internet Hate Campaigns? A follow up

It was only a week ago we wrote a blog post about the potential dangers of social media induced hate campaigns after a picture surfaced on the Internet that appeared to show a man feeding a puppy vodka.

Whilst the photo was shown to be staged – the result of the dog chewing the lid of the bottle – the man in the photo received threats against his life because of the Facebook hate campaign against him.

And in a case of near déjà vu another photo of a young woman appearing to expose a baby to a “bong” – (a device used to inhale marijuana) has begun to circulate Facebook. The photo clearly shows both the woman’s and babies faces. The woman in the photo is the baby’s mother.

The photo is genuine in that it has not been “photoshopped”. However the bong was not operational at the time of the photo. In fact according to a news article from Washington’s Wenatchee World the baby in the photo is the subject of a child custody case to which the mother has primary custody. In addition, Child Protection Services has already seen the photo and investigated and concluded that the baby has not been exposed to marijuana and the mother does not take the drug either.

The photo is real though the baby was not actually exposed to drugs

Now whilst the majority of people would rightly consider taking a photo of a bong and a small child quite tasteless and unacceptable it is worth repeating our previous advice from last week in that online hate campaigns are potentially dangerous. Our story from last week told about how Mr. Barker – the man that appeared to feed a dog vodka – ended up receiving actual death threats from morons who got caught up in the online mob mentality and decided to condemn him without first knowing the facts.

And if Mr. Barker managed to get death threats for what people thought was animal abuse, then it is likely that the woman in the photo will get the same treatment, or possibly worse (according to the Wenatchee World article comments have already been left on Facebook stating that she should die).

Yes, you should never take or stage such silly, tasteless photos, but you should also never get caught up in this online mob mentality which seems more concerned with drumming up online witch-hunts as opposed to dealing with the facts. Whilst those involved in these reprehensible photos should realise there are consequences to their actions, they should not have to deal with the potentially dangerous outcomes from viral online hate campaigns.

In the case of our example, the Facebook page that originally uploaded the photo has removed it, and many popular instances of the photo have now also been removed.

The photo above should absolutely not be shared or circulated on the Internet. CPS have looked into the case regardless, so spreading the photo is utterly pointless and will absolutely not help the child in the photo. Do not get involved with online hate campaigns. If you believe someone or something needs reporting to – for example – the police, then of course do just that. However screaming for blood does not provide real justice, it potentially provides “vigilante justice” and that can be a very dangerous thing indeed.