Rhododendron
How to criticise
without starting a witch hunt
I’ve been writing about schools being ‘shamed’ in the
press or on social media.
In my latest post I had promised to look at how
we, the users of social media, can avoid starting
or prolonging the type of hate campaign I have been
describing in previous posts:
…when it comes to how people should behave on social
media, I really can’t think of any hard
and fast rules. I am the last person on earth to
advocate refusing to criticise schools.
I am also hardly likely to suggest that social media
is not a good way to whistle blow
when things are going on in schools that the public
should be aware of.
But I do not think a hate campaign achieves anything
other than to silence debate.
And, at the very least, we can all consider the possible
consequences of criticising.
I think the following points are all worth considering
when criticising something.
And, please note,
these are a series of suggestions about how to judge one’s own behaviour,
which I hope will influence my future behaviour, not
a set of standards by which to judge others,
or a claim to have always got these right in the past.
What are your
motives for criticising?
I think this question is always worth considering. It
seems fair to give examples of things happening in schools because people have
denied that such a thing happens, or claimed they are uncommon.
At times it may
be fine even just to illustrate. If people make false claims about schools,
I think it’s more than okay to correct them, even if that
may reveal a less positive picture
of the school. But while such things might upset
individuals, upsetting should never be the aim. Deliberate intimidation, such
as in Twitter storms, is even worse. I’d also warn against
“virtue-signalling” as a questionable motive, i.e.
condemning others in order to gain the approval
of the like-minded. Sometimes somebody’s
behaviour is so bad that it is worth saying it is disgusting, but do so
because the person should know, not in order to vent,
so save that for exceptional cases not just things you
disagree with.
Are your
criticisms based on accurate information?
In my descriptions of shaming, I didn’t want to restart
the witch hunt, so I cut out any information about the actual concerns of the
shamers. If I hadn’t though, I could have included as many tweets and emails
that were factually incorrect as ones that were insulting. Never assume that
the account of one disgruntled parent is accurate. Never assume that a
newspaper story is accurate.
Always try to check facts and find out the context.
If that means contacting the person you are criticising
first, so be it.
Also be willing to admit the error, and make corrections
when you have got your facts wrong.
Are you
criticising public behaviour?
I should be careful here to state that I am not saying we
should never discuss what goes on
behind the school gates. Schools receive public money and
should expect to be scrutinised.
But I do think there is a difference between criticising
what schools and teachers proclaim publicly, and weighing in on what is brought
to light by their critics. In the first case, making something
public invites (reasonable) responses and people should know if something
they are saying in public is widely considered objectionable. Also, if it’s
something you have posted online you always have the opportunity to remove it
if there is a backlash you hadn’t anticipated. We should feel free
to openly criticise the content of tweets or blogs,
although I would suggest that deleted tweets
or blogs should be forgotten about unless the
author tries to pretend they never happened,
or tries to
misrepresent what happened (most commonly by claiming to be the victim in a row
they started). In the second case, where the school
has not put the information in the public domain, we can still criticise. However,
when criticising we need to accept that we are now responsible
for the consequences of sharing that information. It is
not good enough to say
“well, it was in a newspaper” or “it was already out
there”,
if the information is then misused, or prompts a hate
campaign.
Can those being
criticised defend themselves?
This is the “witch hunt” clause. Too many people claim
they just want to debate what has happened in situations where nobody can
express the opposing view without being insulted.
When it comes to accusations about individuals, it is
worse. If people have been genuinely forced off social media, (and I mean by
weight of abuse, not because they flounced off) it is not fair
to make accusations about them on social media. Don’t
join in with a chorus of hostility when you know those at whom it is aimed
cannot possibly reply. Also, if somebody is defending themselves, address the
content of their defence. Don’t start changing the accusation to something
different.
I would also be careful against tweeting, or
blogging about individuals who can be identified,
but haven’t been named, or notified that you are talking
about them. Some people seem to think that criticising somebody in
public without identifying them is a way to make debate less personal (see point
6) but the usual result is that the criticised person feels they are being
slagged off
behind their back in order to stop them defending
themselves.
With regard to avoiding Twitter storms, you can try
to involve others in discussions that criticise,
but back off if it could be intimidating. You may want to
make people aware of somebody’s objectionable opinion, but try not to send the
message: “let’s all pile in now”.
Are you being
insulting?
This is one that always amazes me online. People often
have a very odd concept of “insulting”.
On the one hand there are people who see insult where
there is none, and often reply with insults
to an insult that exists only in their imagination.
Common examples of this are those who think
an insult can be defined by “offence”, so if they are
offended by something, even just an opposing opinion, then they have been
insulted. I have encountered people online who argue that you should never
point out when somebody has passed on false information, even deliberate lies,
because this is the same as calling somebody a
liar. Also there are those who feel that if they think the person they are
speaking to does not respect them, usually judged from the “tone”
of comments, or their own insecurities, then they have
been insulted. On the other hand,
there are those who start with insults and then complain
about the response (or lack of response). There are those who think that if
they state something true, it cannot be an insult:
“but your mother is fat and that’s just a
medical fact”. There are also those who use analogies without quite realising
that a comparison can be insulting: “No, I am just saying you are acting
like a Nazi, not that you are a Nazi”. It is best
not to start an argument with “anybody who disagrees is bonkers”, nor to
resort too easily to the claim that somebody you disagree with
has misunderstood. A “bully” is not somebody who
disagrees with you. Similarly, describing anything you object to as “child
abuse” is not the way to win an argument about whether it is right or wrong;
it
is just an insult. Finally, satire should be aimed at the powerful; some of the
worst insults I’ve seen online have been defended as clever parody or just a
joke, yet if the “joke” is that some ordinary teacher is pure evil and might do
or say evil things, it can be indistinguishable from abuse.
Are
you making it personal?
Even if you are not insulting people, arguments are not
helped by making them about the people who hold the opinion rather than the
content of the opinion. Some people do this so habitually
that they cannot imagine arguing with somebody who is
anonymous. Online argument often consists entirely of a series of ad hominems
and appeals to expertise, where people are sorted into goodies (or victims) and
baddies (or oppressors) where it is a prioriwrong to disagree with the
goodies,
or disagree with the baddies. Try to avoid these
narratives. Be careful when using yourself,
your school, or your children as an example; if you can’t
bear to see any of these criticised,
then don’t bring them up. If something is common, you do
not need to provide specific examples.
If you do not agree with a policy or teaching approach,
you may not need to name examples
of people (or schools) who disagree in order to discuss
it, although be careful that you don’t fall
into the trap of criticising people behind their back
(see point 4). People should not find that
when they search for their own name, the name of their
school, or their Twitter username,
that they get your rant about them.
Are you just repeating
what has been said by others?
This is probably a good way to avoid a Twitter storm. If
you want to make a point to somebody
you don’t need a 1000 others to say the same thing.
Sometimes, you do want to get across the point that “this is not just me saying
this”, but be careful that you are not getting dozens of people
to repeat you. Sometimes a Twitter poll will help get the
point across better than asking people
to make comments. If somebody asks their timeline for
their opinions, don’t bother if lots of people have already said what you
wanted to say. It is okay to “like” a good argument that you agree with on
Twitter, but read the responses first. Sometimes weak, or factually incorrect
arguments (particularly about politics) are being liked on Twitter for days
after they have been exposed
as incorrect. Finally, if something is all over Twitter,
we do not have to join in with a chorus of
disapproval immediately.
We can stop
and think, look for the counter-arguments, or just wait to see how it plays
out.
Are you applying
the same standards to yourself, or those you sympathise with?
This is always one of the trickiest things to consider.
We naturally apply all kinds of mitigation
to ourselves and those we agree with that we don’t apply
to others. But we should try to avoid it.
If you are going to declare “nobody should ever do this”,
but you know there are times when
it is acceptable, it is best to mention the exceptions up
front. It is best to think through the wider principles behind what we
say, just in case we have just come up with a brilliant argument against our
own beliefs. Sometimes it’s better to check your previous contributions to
a discussion as you add to it, rather than ending up condemning somebody for
doing something you started yourself. Furthermore, if you haven’t always got
things right in the past, admit it.
(P.S. I haven’t always got the things listed in points
1-8 right in the past).
https://teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/how-to-criticise-without-starting-a-witch-hunt/
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