The increasing online threats to elected officials, in the midst of an election, call for a serious “collective conversation” on what politics is, argue experts, who fear the excesses of such a situation if nothing is done. do. At all costs, they argue, Quebec must now guide the debate on dialogue, and the solutions to be provided.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Awareness needed
“I think there is a common awareness, a collective conversation, to have in relation to this reality. This is not the first time that we have become aware in recent years of the difficulties facing elected officials, and women in politics in particular. As early as 2019, Christine Labrie had raised it in parliament. And that was before the pandemic, ”recalls the director and principal researcher of the Political Communication Research Group at Laval University, Thierry Giasson. On social networks, Prime Minister François Legault appealed for calm on Thursday, imploring citizens not to “stir up anger”. On Wednesday, liberal Marwah Rizqy revealed that she had been the victim of death threats. Then, on Thursday, CAQ candidate Sylvain Lévesque filed a complaint with the police after a photomontage showing one of his electoral signs covered in blood was published online.
Expectations of elected officials
But for Mr. Giasson, making this climate disappear first requires a real discussion on the solutions to be considered. “It will take an education in citizenship, social media, collective life, which we do not do at all at home. We also have to think about the expectations we have of our elected officials, which are perhaps disproportionate to their abilities, ”he recalls. “In the way we talk about parliamentarism in our society, there is probably also something to change”, continues Mr. Giasson, according to whom social media has “a role to play” in the multiplication of hatred, but does not are not solely responsible. “This reality, it existed all the same before their arrival. It’s not just related to that. »
Insufficient debate for the moment
Certainly, the pandemic context has probably “Exacerbated or opened up violent speech”, but this “was already present before”, recalls Thierry Giasson. “It shows that we don’t have enough debate on this problem, which has existed for many years,” he points out. Professor in the department of social and public communication at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Bernard Motulsky abounds in the same direction. “We cannot hide these gestures, but at the same time, it is true that the more we talk about them, the more we can generate insecurity, and give ideas to certain people. It all depends on how you talk about it. It takes solutions,” he said.
Partisan and inappropriate context
“If there is a security issue, we have to say so clearly and discuss solutions. But for that, it takes a real debate, so that there is a real search for solutions. There, during an election campaign, it is almost impossible to think that an issue can remain non-partisan. So we’ll see after the campaign, ”continues Mr. Motulsky on this subject. “The consequence of all this, clearly, is that for the next government, online hate will be one of the issues at the top of the pile”, concludes the specialist, recalling that the “collateral impacts” of hate are multiple. , both in the life of an elected official and in that of a citizen.