A post too far. Single mum, Kaitlyn Walls was relieved to land a job at a local childcare centre as she and her daughter “really needed it,” she told CBS news, “I’m a single mom..trying to get out on my own.”
Walls then made the mistake of posting her feelings about her new job on her Facebook page.
“I start my new job today but I absolutely hate working at daycares.”
Followed by:
“LOL it’s all good I just really hate being around a lot of kids.”
A bit glib perhaps and cetainly not the savviest move to post these thoughts to Facebook but still, did Walls deserve what happened next?
The comments were passed from Facebook group to Facebook group and soon Walls was receiving abusive messages largely from other woman calling her “a dumb b*tch” and likening her to bubonic plague.
Anyone else feeling sorry for the 27-year-old mum? She’s only voicing what I often think on passing creches; “what a nightmare”. I honestly believe that women and men who work in childcare are absolute heroes. I love my own son but would hate to be surrounded by other people’s children eight hours a day.
Soon after Walls was let go from her new job and joined the ranks of unfortunate people (Justine Sacco et al) who made a social media blunder and wound up paying for it in the real world.
Walls spoke to CBS news to tell her side of the story.
“I don’t hate children at all. I have my own, she’s beautiful. I love her. I was just venting.”
Despite recent efforts to critique the culture of online shaming (Jon Ronson’s book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed deals in the subject) there is still a sense of mob rule on the Internet and the punishment meted out in the form of abusive comments is rarely proportionate to the crime.
Will it take each and every one of us to suffer the consequences of a thoughtless click before we are willing to accept that there’s a difference between a comment born out of thoughtless disregard and a comment intended to hurt and do damage?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=89&v=PqXh2XbmdU8
