OUT IN THE FIELD: What ever happened to #Bekind

With ginger hair and buck teeth at school, I was the butt of many jokes, the majority of them about Duracell batteries. When I got braces on my teeth I was called Metal Mickey. When I had to wear glasses my nickname became Four Eyes. Okay some of the name calling was hurtful but at least people stood in front of you and said it to your face. You could see your enemy so to speak.

But in these days of social media, you can’t see the whites of their eyes. People frequently fire abuse at each other throwing hurtful and cruel remarks from their keyboard into the ether without a thought for the consequences. And they think they have every right to.

In the past few weeks I have been called a sanctimonious old cow, supercilious, vicious and lacking empathy. Some of my work has been criticised and for the last four years one particular reader thinks I am solely responsible for the fact that people accused of rape and sexual assault can be named once they have been charged and before they go to trial: even though I have pointed out on more than one occasion that it’s the law of the land and I don’t make the rules.

I do what I have always done when it comes to bullying of any form and stand up to it. If somebody doesn’t like what I have written, I ask them to suggest how I could have written it better. If someone says an article is one-sided, I give them my telephone number and ask them to call me to put the record straight.

I am always open to constructive criticism ‘face to face’ rather than being put down from behind a keyboard in front of the world and his wife.

I wouldn’t dream of standing outside a shop criticising the storekeeper and their products which is what online abuse amounts to sometimes.

Journalists in particular are seeing an increase in online harassment, threats, intimidation and abuse and many of them are withdrawing from frontline reporting and removing themselves from public online conversations which isn’t good especially as many of them are women being targeted for simply doing their job.

You would think people would have better things to do in these difficult times but obviously not. And what ever happened to #bekind? Some folk have terribly short memories.

Talking of kindness, my friend Julie’s daughter had a bit of a mishap while she was out taking her dog for a walk and slipped and broke her ankle. She slipped on Chamberlain Road in Old Town on a Wednesday afternoon in broad daylight. As she lay on the pavement in pain, five people crossed the road, not an ounce of compassion. I know we are all petrified of Covid but it would have been kind to just ask ‘are you okay?’. It doesn’t take a lot of soul searching if you see anyone you think is in distress, to ask if they are alright. If we all showed a bit more kindness in the word, what a different place it would be.

As always there are far more nicer people than horrible ones and it was great to see the good work of some of them at the Langney Larder this week. The project at Langney Community Centre aims to help people facing food poverty and for just £2 a week people struggling to make ends meet can take their pick from a wide selection of fresh fruit and veg, tins, refrigerated food and sanitary products. It’s fabulous and a virtual hug all rolled in together.