Cyberbullying

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

Cyberbullying and the crisis of superficiality have become among the most important problems in Arab society. In the last decade, the digital space has ceased to be just a means of communication, but has turned into a daily court arena. The most dangerous thing in the arena is not the difference of opinion, but rather the way the difference is managed. We are faced with a complex phenomenon: systematic electronic bullying, superficiality in dealing with ideas, and a conscious or unconscious attempt to undermine what remains of Arab charisma.

First: From criticism to bullying: A healthy society criticizes the idea, a society in crisis criticizes the one who came up with the idea. This is what we see today on Arab platforms, which is a move from criticizing the content to the assassination of the thinking person, which is not discussed in his book or in his presentation, but in his clothing, in his dialect, in a passing linguistic insult, in an old image of him.. The goal is not to implement the argument, but rather to strip the moral legitimacy of its speaker so that his proposal becomes worthless.

The tools of bullying have become well-known: collective ridicule, comics taken out of context, cancellation campaigns, and turning any deep discussion into a satirical trend that is consumed within 24 hours and ends without any benefit.

Second: The palatability of superficiality: If we ask ourselves: Why does bullying succeed? Because he finds fertile ground: a superficial culture that hates depth and depth... starting with the culture of the title... no one reads the book, everyone reads its title, no one watches a lecture... everyone watches a 30-second clip of it, and we judge a thinker by a tweet, and a philosopher by stories... and from here comes the shameful reductionism: any complex idea is reduced to “is he with us or against us?” An idea that cannot be put into a ready-made ideological mold is rejected immediately!

Then come the most important problems: the sanctification of false simplicity: depth has become an accusation. Whoever uses a philosophical term is accused of philosophizing, and whoever writes a long article is accused of boredom. Social media rewarded fast content, so we punished deep content!

Third: Targeting charisma: Why target Arab charisma? Charisma here does not mean fame; It means the inspiring model capable of bringing people together around an idea, value, or project. Therefore, there is a continuous attempt, some of which is spontaneous and resulting from public frustration, and some of which is directed, to strike this model!

When a serious Arab thinker appears, he is immediately compared to a Western model to dwarf him: “We do not have someone like so-and-so Western.”

When an Arab writer or scholar succeeds, his entire past is dug up to prove that he is “not a role model.”

Trivial and superficial role models are exaggerated and presented as alternative “role models.” The standard becomes triviality rather than depth, and the Arab teenager begins to see that charisma is the number of followers, not the ability to have a real influence.

Fourth: Where are you going and what is your destination? The way out of this crisis is not by banning the platforms, but by rehabilitating the way we use them as follows:

Separating the idea from its owner: We learn to disagree with the idea without hating its owner. We discuss the argument, not the person.

We read before we judge: We do not judge a writer by its title, nor a book by its title, nor a lecture by a fragmentary passage. We give ourselves the opportunity for 10 minutes of deep reading before we write a sarcastic comment.

We create digital immunity: Cyberbullying feeds on our interaction. Ignoring, blocking, and not re-publishing offensive content is the first step to killing it.

Supporting deep content: Algorithms give us what to interact with. Every like of a serious thinker, every share of a deep article, and every respectful comment is a vote against superficiality.

Arab society does not lack thinkers, but rather it lacks those who protect thinkers from moral assassination. Cyberbullying is not just a “negative comment.” It is a tool to destroy what remains of trust between us and our elites. If we continue to applaud superficiality and mock the depth, we will fall one day and will not find a single serious idea worth discussing.