Last week saw incredible scenes of human and political theatre as the relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims found some degree of closure over the killing of their loved ones… But there was also a pretty nasty backdraft against some public figures who dared to asked questions of the public consensus not least around the bloody context of the killings. Chief target for the permanently angry brigade was Gregory Campbell, who had a particularly nasty Facebook group closed down:
I was informed by a member of the public that a group site had been set up, upon investigation I discovered that there were scores of vile, vicious references to me and some of my colleagues, a small number threatened to have me attacked if I appeared anywhere on the cityside of Londonderry, others were more precise in their threats.
Having discovered this information, I considered simply allowing it to remain so that people right across the community could see the depths of hatred that still exist in some sectors of our society, but when it became clear that in a few days over 700 people had signed up to supporting one of these sites it became clear that action was called for.
The Belfast Telegraph reports that “a similar Facebook site was also set up which contained a picture of an altered election poster with a bullet-hole through his forehead”.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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