While gunshots from the Christchurch atrocity fade to the solemn quiet of funerals, the noise of social media continues unabated from all sides of the awful, ugly saga.
If there is one good lesson we can take from the indiscriminate slaughter of people at their most vulnerable — at worship — it must be that what you say and what you write counts for something.
I will take the lead of the inspirational New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and not mention the name of the Christchurch killer — but his actions must have a root cause, and I can guarantee that root began with words.
The language of hate that snakes through the subterranean web forums of extremist groups also finds its way into the regular discourse of everyday Facebook feeds.
Words such as ‘‘disgraceful’’, ‘‘disgusting’’, ‘‘offensive’’ and ‘‘ignorant’’ are used in fairly ordinary situations of disagreement on social media feeds when people want to promote their ideas with some force.
These are powerful words.
The original discussion may be about why the council has decided to remove a tree, but suddenly the temperature of language has risen to boiling point and outrage gives way to a retreat into silos of people in furious agreement.
The internet provides a perfect space for silos of furious agreement.
People with extreme views used to feel relegated to the fringes of society, but today the web can provide a platform and a megaphone.
Live streaming of mass death has to be the ugliest and most dangerous platform of all.
After Christchurch, the lesson for us must be: remove the platform, silence the megaphone, and provide consequences for the broadcast of hateful words and imagery.
While the world has focussed on the rise of Islamic extremism, the rash of far white supremacism has been allowed to fester.
The actions of the Christchurch killer have brought the secretive far right out of the dark fringes and into the glare of the wider world.
But by exposing their mad theories and ugly plans, we walk a tightrope.
During the 1980s war with the IRA, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher talked of starving terrorists of the ‘‘oxygen of publicity’’.
I never thought I would agree with any Thatcherite aphorism, but she was right on this one.
When you are in a war of ideas, you don’t give the opposition oxygen.
In Australia and across the world for the past 10 years we have been giving oxygen to people who fuel hatred against immigrants and people of colour.
The language of hate has been worming its way through parliaments, television and radio networks, and the dark corners of the internet.
It has been appearing in the thoughtless Facebook arguments of countless ordinary people, and occasionally spilling on to the streets of our cities in organised hate-filled demonstrations.
They have been legitimised by some politicians who operate under the cloak of parliamentary privilege or a perceived popular mandate. Up until last Friday they have just been words — but now they have become bullets. So when we discuss immigration, culture, religion, sexuality and colour, we need to pay careful attention to our language.
Some may call this political correctness gone mad, do-goodism or leftie nonsense.
So be it.
When words become bullets, it is time to pay attention — use words with care, respect and, above all, with love.
John Lewis a senior journalist at The News.
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