Debates About Political Issues

Nowadays, people of all ages engage in political issues – even the youth are now very much aware of that is going in the world of politics, whether locally or internationally, because of the power of social media. Today’s information technology benefits us in such a way that our minds are being fed with the right information, but there are also fake news that contain deceptive information that have adverse effects on young people’s minds. The problem with social media these days is that unverified information about issues, including political issues, are not filtered; these are even tolerated.

As such, the political views and ideologies of many individuals are heavily affected. This reflects in political debates online. Some twisted views are presented online and they can be really disturbing. Others would bully those on the opposing side to a point of attacking them personally. The concept of ‘think before you post’ becomes blurry at times and this is when the problem comes up, especially when it comes to serious topics such as political issues.

People’s political views normally vary, but the unruly behavior and foul comments are definitely not normal. Debates about political issues need supervision. If you post anything related to politics, you have to monitor the comments in real time. Keep an eagle eye on all the negative comments. See if there are any racist comments and flag them immediately as warranted. If you spot a comment or two, immediately warn the participants. To be safe, set a strict guideline before the start of the debate by posting it on your page. Warn your audience to be polite always and not to use profanity in commenting. Explain thoroughly that there will be corresponding penalties such as reporting the user or even blocking him or her from your page so he or she will no longer be able to participate in future debates.

As much as your participants are familiar with political theory, they have to take into consideration ethical theories as well. Speech can be really dangerous because of its ability to create emotional turmoil. We remember that political wars do not start with violence; they begin with words. Mainstream debates about politicians, particularly controversial leaders like Putin and Trump, can incite hate crimes, racial discrimination, or even physical attacks. Hence, be very careful with your posts and monitor comments from time to time. Actually, this applies to al kinds of debate topic, not only those related to politics.