Dear Editor,

The
Bible, in Ephesians 6:4, admonishes fathers not to provoke their children to wrath. While Paul’s letter to the brethren at the Church in Ephesus speaks to familial relationships in this context, the principle taught in the text is applicable to other settings, including online relationships and behaviour.

On Wednesday, October 22 one of Jamaica’s daily newspapers published a news item with part of its headline saying, ‘Tufton faces backlash over comment to journalist’. This was in reference to Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton’s response to journalist Zahra Burton on
X (formerly
Twitter) in which he told her, “You need mental health therapy! I hope you seek it!” Burton had tweeted, “Classic Jamaica. Classic. Just incredible. Lol,” under a post in which Tufton was featured after he received a national honour — Order of Distinction (Commander class) — at the yearly ceremony held on National Heroes’ Day.

Undoubtedly, many
X users chastised him for his remark, including Dr Deborah Hickling Gordon — former People’s National Party spokesperson on culture. She argued that the minister’s response was ironic, especially as he does not possess the requisite qualifications to diagnose anyone with mental health challenges and the fact that he should be the one helping to destigmatise the issue in Jamaica.

However, the news item was incomplete, as many social media users sided with Tufton, highlighting that Burton has had what appears to them to be a “prolonged obsession” with the health minister. In fact, some people believe that Tufton was very considerate and mild in his response to her.

Social media is an open space. Once you post or comment on anything you open yourself to both positive and negative reactions. Some comments, however, can be very crude, sarcastic, condescending, and insulting.

Nothing is wrong with expressing one’s thoughts respectfully on social media, but it becomes concerning when there is constant stalking, harassment, and cyberbullying.

Ideally, the victim should not engage. It is natural to want to defend oneself, but replying often fuels the bully. The victim should then avoid direct responses to hostile messages, block or mute the offender instantly, and document evidence by way of screenshots, for example.

But isn’t the victim human too? What if he or she is provoked to anger?

It is wrong to believe that freedom of expression does not come with responsibility and accountability. Sometimes people “tek set pon” others and believe they should not respond because they hold certain leadership positions or practise a mainstream religion.

In the end people have feelings and even if they hold out for long, they may eventually flip one day.

We may not like everyone or agree with every action, but we can express our thoughts respectfully, graciously, and humanely.

Oneil Madden

maddenoniel@yahoo.com