Let’s also crush social media terrorists

By Angela Ambitho

Wicked: the strategies they employ to realise their mission. Repulsive: the manner in which they justify their senseless acts. Torture: the platform used to deal with hostages. Vengeful and vindictive: the character of most terrorists.

Traumatised: the inevitable demeanour of lucky survivors. Petrified: the way helpless onlookers feel. Angry: the way most affected families react to their predicament. Death and devastation: the end result of the heinous crimes. Ashamed: how parents and relatives of any terrorist must feel. Unbowed and Undeterred: how we all must treat acts of terrorism. Intolerance: the way government must treat all manner of terrorists.

You will notice that I say “all manner of terrorists” because in the 21st century, terrorism has acquired new faces. Not only did 9/11 confirm this, but the rising cases of social media terrorism though uncensored hate-blogs have also awakened the world to various groups of vindictive individuals who stop at nothing to achieve their objective of destroying the target.

Whether it be violent terrorism that applies armed weapons as recently witnessed in the ghastly Westgate tragedy or bioterrorism where toxic agents are used to poison civilians or it be cyber terrorism where propaganda, hate speech, derogatory insults and lies are targeted towards innocent victims, the purpose is the same: to systematically use terror and frightening tactics as a means of repression, intimidation and coercion.

Philosophically, therefore, one can postulate that there is really no difference between Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and the vile hate bloggers. Ultimately, they all leverage on human fear to advance their goals using any means necessary.

And whilst we openly condemn the violent terrorists who commandeered Westgate for 72 hours, we paradoxically condone, religiously consume, actively propagate and even cheer the despicable attacks that social media terrorists mete out on any person other than us.

It seldom occurs to us the grave danger these irresponsible individuals’ actions place their victims in. When these faceless dogs of war attempt to expose ICC witnesses, or write unprintable garbage about anyone they perceive to be their paymaster’s enemy, their wordy acts are no better than the bullets that killed innocent victims of terrorism this past weekend.

Ironically, these hate bloggers don’t operate in a vacuum. No! They work at the behest of political godfathers who instruct, protect and reward them handsomely for their feats against those perceived to be deterrents. As our heartfelt prayers and sincere condolences go out to all families who lost loved ones in the last weekend’s tragedy, let’s vow to fight all forms of terrorism especially those that infiltrate our minds daily. Let our leadership also lead by example and rid themselves of the social media terrorists who often argue that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. A terrorist by any other word is a criminal. Period.