David Beck: There is a thin line between political debate and toxicity

Twitter fingers went into overdrive during the election and some of it was hard to read. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

Like much of the country, and as one of the few journalists not working on Saturday night, I followed the election coverage with great interest.

As I often do during such major events, I hopped on Twitter to see what sort of reaction was being tossed around online.

A lot of what I saw left me feeling a little disgusted.

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One of the lines Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly rolled out during her time as Prime Minister is "be kind". That appears to be a message which has not yet made it to the Twittersphere.

Among the worst were people putting the boot in to MPs who effectively just lost their jobs. Not just relishing in their loss but criticising their mannerisms, the way they talk and throwing out all sorts of crude insults.

I even saw one comment questioning Māori Party candidate Rawiri Waititi's ability to perform in Parliament because of the hat he was wearing. How is that relevant?

There were many others containing messages so crude we're not allowed to publish and that I can't even allude to what they were here.

I know political candidates are prepared for that sort of reaction from their haters and most are thick-skinned enough to deal with it but I don't think that makes it okay or at all necessary. Maybe I'm too empathetic, but these are people with friends and whānau who care about them and would be heartbroken to see what some people choose to post online.

I try to go into every election with an open mind. I read about policies, see which ones best align with my own beliefs and values and vote accordingly.

I know others are different, they align with a party early in life and are extremely loyal to them for the rest of their lives, similar to sports fans with their favourite teams.

That's great, neither approach is necessarily right or wrong, but when that tribalism becomes toxicity, that's crossing a line.

I've seen first hand how much time and effort goes into a political campaign and without passionate supporters of each party that wouldn't be possible. Most do so in good spirit, happy to debate and argue their case without becoming abusive.

It's a shame that there is a vocal minority, particularly online, who take it too far.