The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says overheated discourse on social media is in large part responsible for the toxicity in politics, including the threats and abuse being sprayed at politicians.
Speaking at the Political Book of the Year awards in Canberra last night, Chalmers reflected on the alleged attack against Indi MP Helen Haines last week. He said hate had always been present in Australian society but it now has “a business model, a formula, an assembly line for mass-production.”
He described a new kind of digital misogyny that follows women in public life wherever they go, making the current climate harshest for women.
double quotation markThat climate is no accident. Hate is monetised and weaponised by algorithmic rage-bait. Extremism is incentivised; nuance is penalised. The most available public figures are the most vulnerable.
So tonight is a little reminder of why reason and research matters, why nuance matters, what’s at risk and what’s at stake and why that matters too.
Books inform our views without hardening them. Social media hardens our views without informing them.
Haines is recovering in hospital. Police have charged a 43-year-old man over the alleged attack outside her Wangaratta electorate office.
Fox Style News Syndicate. Sourced from broadcast reporting: Read Full Source Coverage.