The hogwash on social media – especially the hateful kind – can't be laughed away
EDITOR'S NOTE
An apocalyptic email from a KPMG employee has ignited a debate on faith and tolerance, highlighting the dangers of social media and modern technology in spreading hate and disinformation.
Image: RON AI/Independent Media
If you are reading this from this wretched Earth, chances are that you have not been snatched away into the firmament in the Rapture that was predicted to occur this week, around September 23-24.
Sadly, that means you have missed out on a once-off chance to go to Heaven.
But, jokes aside, the troubling apocalyptic email by a young KPMG office employee that travelled around the world, warning everyone about an impending end-time and calling on them to be ready, is not something to laugh about, brush aside and move on.
Mahlatse Letoka’s viral email, accompanied by a TikTok post, further flamed the raging debate about faith, inclusivity, tolerance for different views and communities, and so on.
It was good of the multinational auditing firm to quickly take a stand and condemn the employee’s message that had elements of Islamophobia.
Letoka is correct in her assessment that the world is at a precarious point right now. But the World War 3 she believes is imminent may erupt sooner due to messages like hers.
There is nothing wrong in anyone holding on strongly to their beliefs, but there is everything wrong in fanning panic, hatred and intolerance towards other people or groupings.
Some have warned that “social media will be the death of us”. And, I cannot argue with this assertion. Just add to that warning the other powerful modern-day tools, like e-mail and AI.
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson once said, “Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”
The problem is not in these power tools but those who misuse them. It’s not in that there are no editors on these social media platforms. Some people often abuse them from their comfort zones. Unfortunately for the young lady, there are rules at her workplace.
For us in the legacy mainstream media, it’s always tempting for editors to dismiss such dangerous “hogwash”, but that doesn’t stop it circulating in cyberspace. For this reason, I commend our colleagues at IOL and other media houses for covering this highly troubling story.
Let’s hope the trainee accountant knew not what she was doing and that she will soon learn from her mistakes.