How did we end up with so many hate mongers?

I’m on the verge of quitting Twitter, or X as it’s now called. I joined in 2011 and it was fun for a few years. I used to check in every morning to see what happened overnight and to enjoy some witty comments. It was a pleasant way to pass some time, but those days are gone.

It’s no longer a place for friendly interaction and banter. There are too many half-wits full of hatred and anger – from all walks of life – who like nothing better than to hurl abuse at everyone and everything without the slightest regard for facts, truth or reason.

It’s impossible to visit the site now without coming across numerous videos of people screaming foul, threatening and grossly insulting language at people they disagree with, often accompanied by threats of actual violence. It seems nobody is immune when it comes receiving vile attacks online, and I’m fed up with it.

In recent years they have taken their hatred onto the streets and into the real world. More recently they have targeted the family home of An Taoiseach and whether you agree with his politics or not, intimidating his wife and children is not acceptable.

And before the usual nut-jobs jump up and down, screaming about freedom of speech and the right to peacefully demonstrate, let’s be realistic. The people behaving like this are not peaceful protesters or genuine demonstrators. They champion no cause but their own and most of the time I suspect they have no idea what that even is.

They don’t have as much support as they claim to have either as the recent local election results showed. They are incapable of presenting a coherent argument, and when they are challenged on their beliefs, they revert to type using the only tactic they understand – cursing and swearing loudly in the language of the trenches.

These characters were around in my day too. Not as many maybe but they were there. There was no social media back then, but they did like to play to a crowd which was the next best thing. They had similar profiles too.

Back then, there were many decent people living on social welfare for a variety of genuine reasons, but the characters I’m referring to were usually unemployed, not because they couldn’t find a job – they were just too lazy to work.

They got up at lunchtime and made their way to the bookies. Then headed to the pub where they spent the rest of the day drinking and educating likeminded souls on what was wrong with the country and how to fix it even though they wouldn’t lift a finger themselves.

I’ll give you a quick example. Many years ago, the community in one of the local authority estates organised a clean-up day. It was a lovely Saturday morning and everyone in the area was out with lawnmowers, strimming machines, shovels and brushes doing their bit to tidy the place for the summer.

Close to lunchtime, one of the aforementioned wasters, stood at his front door after getting out of bed. He leaned on the doorframe smoking a cigarette while he sniggered at the others. A few of the neighbours suggested that he might lend a hand, but he only laughed and ridiculed them for doing the work of the council. He would probably boast of that encounter later to his mates.

In my thirty-five years in An Garda Siochana, I met lots of those people. As a friend of mine used say – they were too lazy to work but too cute to starve. They were always first in line to get any kind of benefit from the State and the first to moan about it afterwards. The only queue they were never keen to join was the one that offered employment.

The advent of social media has given these modern day deadheads a platform. They don’t even need to make a coherent statement. They can scream and shout to their hearts content in the certain knowledge that someone with a phone will record it and upload it so they can share it with their friends in their local.

The abuse I’ve seen recently goes far beyond anything I experienced. I took my fair share of it just as police officers the world over do, but it was never delivered with such venom. I marshalled many demonstrations over the years and most went off without a hitch. If someone got out of hand, they were dealt with by the courts, but that policy seems to have changed.

The lack of police action today is emboldening these miscreants and encouraging more outrageous behaviour. I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but this level of anti-social behaviour goes way beyond what is acceptable to most ordinary people. It has to stop.

Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee said recently, “We’ve seen many hundreds of protests. The vast, vast majority peaceful but a small number where a violent element has tried to undermine our society. Throughout every one of these events, garda members respected the democratic right of people to protest, to make their voice heard, while upholding the law and responding appropriately to the shameful acts of violence.”

“I know that I’m joined by every single person in this country who values our freedom and our democratic rights when I condemn utterly and completely any apparent attacks on gardaí. Any such attack represents an attack on our entire community. It is an attack on our very democracy and our fundamental rights.”

She knows the thin blue line is wafer thin and under resourced. There may come a time when it may not be in a position to defend the attack on the democracy that she talks about so passionately.