This toxic online activity is exactly why our community needs spaces like libraries where people can be themselves, writes guest columnist Mary DeWalt. (Getty Images)
It is time for an intervention. It is time for good people to stand up against incivility, discrimination and harassment in our society. As John Stuart Mill said, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. Or, for those who prefer biblical references, Proverbs, “If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited.”
The latest harmful activity is a disinformation campaign taking place in Nampa, particularly regarding the Nampa Public Library and a nearby church.
It began when someone spotted a flyer on the library community board about a group for LGBTQ+ young people where food and comradery are offered at a nearby church. Like the old telephone game, but uglier, rumors began to be shared online besmirching a clearly supportive gathering, claiming instead that adults are talking about gay sex with teens and worse accusations. We should not generously call this misinformation, it is disinformation. Bad actors are exhorting people to contact the library to express their outrage, and library staff are under attack.
A legislator is also involved in this caustic activity, someone who should be held to a higher standard of conduct. Despite being provided accurate information, this legislator continued his provocation.
Even after it was made clear that this program was not located at the library, and attention turned toward the church, which I hope escaped the same abuse, the library continues to be maliciously admonished for allowing the flyer to be posted. This. Must. Stop.
This toxic online activity is exactly why our community needs spaces where people can be themselves in a non-threatening environment. People who spread disinformation inciting vitriol and harassment are the exact reason people in our community must have places to go where they feel safe from harm.
This program wasn’t taking place in a library but why couldn’t it? Public libraries offer meeting space to all kinds of community groups.
We are left to wonder: Why are people so afraid? Why are some people so mean spirited toward others in the community? Why do some people automatically jump to the most outrageous conclusions? Is it that people somehow feel threatened? Is it religiocentrism? Or is it a need to gain power at the expense of others? Regardless of why, it is time to address it.
Perhaps libraries could facilitate this needed intervention? Should libraries hold programs on civility and opportunities to learn more about their neighbors as fellow humans? Libraries already help provide and point people to information, offering materials that provide a variety of viewpoints, perspectives and personal experiences. Yet, as we know, these very materials that can help people become more empathetic are also under fire in our state. Restricting reading engenders the same “why” questions noted above. Society clearly needs more exposure to materials that provide a window into another person’s world, rather than less.
In our country, everyone is entitled to their own life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The fact that some people feel so compelled to hurt and harass others based on their own beliefs should be abhorrent to the rest of us.
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