Editorial: As tensions rise, we must avoid the toxicity of imported culture war - Kilkenny Live

In recent weeks, multiple violent threats have been made against Tánaiste Simon Harris, from bomb hoax scares involving his home to threatened attacks on family members.

Regardless of your political leaning, this is abhorrent and an attack on democracy itself. There is no doubt; much of this divisive rhetoric is fomenting on social media, where people have become radicalised and emboldened.

Some of the poisonous behaviours and ideas now being spewed by (some) Irish people are being imported from abroad. The American culture wars are here and they are now affecting debate and dividing public opinion.

America is a hugely divided nation and it is being driven further apart by farms of fake accounts and bots, designed for that purpose. Charlie Kirk — a man most Irish people had probably never heard of until this month —is being discussed at the office watercooler, in the local pub, and even from the pulpit.

Social media and the global nature of the internet means that national debates no longer remain within any one country’s borders. Things changed when social media was born. A further change occurred when the social media algorithims switched from connecting people and showing them things they might like to curating things designed to outrage, to drive engagement, and to polarise. The more extreme the better.

We are seeing the results of this in real time. Ireland —all of us — need to be extremely careful where we go from here.

As for the US, the outlook appears grim. One hopes the latest development does not become America’s ‘Reichstag fire’ moment. TAP HERE FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS

BUG HOTEL DESTROYED
It is really disappointing to see a Tidy Towns project — the Piltown bug hotel — destroyed, presumably by vandals.

A lot of work went into it, and it was a beautifully crafted piece designed to look like the Ink Bottle at Belline. That purpose was both to enhance biodiversity and add to the area’s Tidy Towns offering. Let’s hope the culprits are caught and face sanction.