I want to reflect on what has been an extraordinary summer. The General Election in July brought a new Government, a new Prime Minister and a new start for the country, and (as you will know) challenges for us as an independent school. One of the first challenges that Kier Starmer had to face was the riots which followed the horrendous murders of three young girls who were stabbed at a dance event in Stockport.
This abhorrent incident was bad enough in itself, but the response of some members of the public and the manner in which, for a few days, lawlessness seemed to prevail, was particularly shameful. The causes of the riots have been analysed and re-analysed over the past few weeks, and there are a multitude of causes and explanations behind them, but it does seem that they were initiated by the spreading of online mis-information, which was then used offensively by people intent on causing trouble.
I was reading in the newspaper this week of a middle-aged, very successful business-woman from Chester who was arrested and is helping Police with their enquiries for being the first identifiable person to post the mis-information which wrongly named and described the perpetrator of this attack. She published her erroneous and completely false post just three hours after an arrest had been made, with incorrect and inflammatory information about the perpetrator: a story which fuelled the far-right to organise protests of the unpleasant type we saw in August.
This morning is an opportunity for reflection so I wanted to use this narrative to reflect on lessons which can be learnt from it for all of us.
Firstly, it is a classic example that we all need to be very careful what we post online. Anything controversial, demeaning or abusive which you post online, whether privately posted or publicly posted, has the potential to cause harm and offence. And if you use encrypted messaging services, you are only a screenshot away from your thoughts and opinions being made public. We all need to be mindful of the possible consequences of anything we post online.
Secondly, do not believe everything you read online. In today’s social media-based communications world, there is so much false information out there and seemingly very little of it has been fact-checked and corrected. Be discerning about the information you read.
Thirdly, be aware of peer-pressure. Many of the rioters from a month ago have been imprisoned for their actions. What I find baffling is that some, who are currently in prison, didn’t deliberately come out to riot but were in an area when the rioting started, and they simply joined in. Be aware of how easy it is to get swept along by a group into actions which do you no credit and which you regret later. Peer pressure is an extraordinarily strong force.
The Stockport killings make no sense to any rational person and so much grief and anger has arisen from them. I have been speaking this morning about misguided and, in some cases, very evil people. Always remember, and be comforted by, the fact that the vast majority of people in this country and around the world, are good people. Good people quietly doing good things doesn’t make the national news.
And if anything positive has come out of such an awful story it has perhaps given us all a chance to think carefully about how we react to those around us, to reflect on the manner in which we behave individually and as a group, to think carefully before we are compelled into action, some of which may not be sensible, and, finally, to remember that we all have an opportunity every minute of every day to treat each other with decency and respect. Let’s take that opportunity and make it a focus of the year ahead.
As the Greek fabulist Aesop said, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”