Bishop of Lichfield : Let’s move on from Year of troll

The Right Rev Dr Michael Ipgrave, who oversees the church for Staffordshire and the Black Country, said while there were plenty of examples of kindness throughout the area there were too many ‘vindictive’ people attacking each other on social media.

His message said: “So often in the past year grace and truth seem to have been in short supply in some parts of our public and political life.

“The language we use toward one another and about one another has been bitter, vindictive and hurtful.

“‘Fake news’ has been promoted, and fake allegations of fake news have been common.

“On social media in particular, the cloak of anonymity has meant that people seem to lose all restraint in attacking those with whom they disagree.

“2017 has in many ways been the Year of the troll.”

Expanding on his comments the Bishop told the Express & Star that the current political situation had not helped.

He said: “It is hard to be in the political context we are without realising what a divided society we are.

“Issues such as Brexit have raised very strong emotions, but looking at the way people disagree with each other particularly when they can remain anonymous, is creating further division.

“Social media is a good thing and can be a great thing but people can lose a sense of responsibility for the things that they say.

“I think in the first place people just need to take a bit more thought and responsibility before hitting the send button.

“There seems to be this need to respond to everything instantly but sometimes people need to think before they comment and perhaps even wait until the next day after they have cooled down a bit to respond.”

The Bishop stated Brexit would continue to dominate debate in 2018 but declared it was important people did not lose sight of other important social issues.

He added: “It is a significant issue and people are very passionate about it but I hope we can be more respectful and good tempered without resorting to abuse.

“We must not forget we have other issues. Inflation keeps rising which will certainly affect people with their household finances who are already struggling to make ends meet.”