The judgment of the online hordes was instantaneous: The mother was to blame. After a 3-year-old boy managed to fall or crawl into a gorilla habitat at the Cincinnati Zoo on a Saturday visit in late May — an encounter that resulted in the zoo’s decision to kill the rare silverback to prevent serious harm to the child — the Twitterverse lit up with denunciations of the mom.
So did other social media. Shortly after the episode, an online petition was launched calling for police and child welfare authorities to hold the parents responsible for the gorilla’s death. The petition drew more than 100,000 signatures within 24 hours, according to news reports, and had gathered more than 300,000 within a few days. (Apparently swayed by public opinion, Cincinnati police launched a criminal investigation into the incident but declined to press charges against the mother, Michelle Gregg.)
Never mind that none of those howling for justice for Harambe, the western lowland gorilla, were present during the encounter or had any evidence that any adults had been negligent. They wanted the child’s parents arrested, incarcerated, flayed in public, displayed in stocks in the square.
“Stupid people shouldn’t be allowed access to endangered animals,” one tweet read. “This beautiful ENDANGERED gorilla was killed because of extremely poor parenting,” said another. And after Gregg posted a statement on Facebook thanking supporters for their prayers, one tweeter had this response: “Don’t hide behind your religion lady. God is not your babysitter. Ur an idiot.” Some Facebook posters even suggested Gregg and the boy’s father should have been shot instead of Harambe.
For all our marvelous technological developments, for all our advances in science, medicine and even psychology, human beings remain what we have always been: irrational, judgmental, and easily swayed by the instincts of the crowd. Our public commons may have transformed into a virtual space, but it still lends itself only too easily to the lynch mob.
Just tune in to the raw assessments of Twitter and Facebook, where the human capacity for wisdom, empathy and understanding, yes, but also racism, sexism, misogyny and tribalism are on full display. Indeed, misogyny is so deeply embedded in social media environments that women who dare to express themselves with authority have had to learn to steel themselves for the expected assault.
Recently, sports reporters Julie DiCaro and Sarah Spain joined forces to create a video to highlight the ugly abuse they draw from men who seemingly cannot stomach the notion that women have expertise in male-dominated sports. They asked a group of male sports fans (not the culpable parties) to read some of the vicious tweets that have been sent their way, an exercise which, happily, made some of the readers uncomfortable. At least that small, select group of men was chastened by the experience.
But the lesson has been lost on the so-called Bernie Bros, a group of online commenters who, while not identified, present themselves as male supporters of Bernie Sanders. They are hateful misogynists who don’t limit themselves to rational critiques of Hillary Clinton’s policies, but rather spew vile criticism that reduces her and her female supporters to crude references to their gender.
Psychologists tell us that social media lend themselves to that sort of repellent response because the writer is deprived of face-to-face contact with his target, reducing his capacity for empathy. There is undoubtedly much truth in that. But it’s also true that humans have always had a facility for meanness, for viciousness, for contempt — especially toward those whom they don’t know. As a black female columnist, I’ve endured my share of vile responses to my opinions, many of which pre-date social media.
At least I stepped knowingly into the public arena (as did Hillary Clinton), so I knew what I was up against. Not so poor Michelle Gregg, who only wanted to give her children an outing at the zoo. She has found herself pilloried by people who have little information upon which to base their judgments. Her critics would do well to learn a few of the things Gregg may be trying to teach her 3-year-old: respect for our fellow living creatures (including other humans), good manners and impulse control.
Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007
