The internet claims more victims: Ou online posts come back to haunt Gouws and Cabanac
This is going to be a cautionary tale, especially for youngsters addicted to social media.
I hope there are enough examples of why you need to be very careful about what you say and do online.
One of the many problems with social media is that it lulls users into a false sense of safety.
It’s given many people the impression that they can say and do as they please, without any consequences.
That’s because it’s so much easier to say mean, nasty things from behind a keyboard than it is to do face-to-face.
But the one lesson that seemingly escapes many, is in fact the very first lesson I learned about online life; and that is that the internet never forgets.
Two Democratic Alliance celebrities have learned this lesson the hard way recently.
I have already written extensively about Renaldo Gouws, who was suspended when old offensive statements he made during the early days of the internet, resurfaced.
In fact, they didn’t resurface on their own, because he had deleted them.
Those who objected to his politics and his appointment in the party, went digging and were able to find those videos again.
The DA thought it was fake, but has subsequently confirmed their authenticity, forcing the party to terminate his membership and bringing his 3-month-long career in parliament to a screeching halt.
The latest victim of an internet with a memory better than an elephant, is Roman Cabanac, who the party’s leader John Steenhuizen appointed as his chief of staff.
Cabanac was known as an internet celeb with some very dangerous views on society and politics.
He tried to defend his words (like “life was better under Apartheid”) by saying he was young and has now changed his views.
But the world would have none of it and Steenhuizen was forced to let him go with strong words of his own: “I made a mistake by appointing him.”
The other defence that Cabanac used was that he said those things at the time to be controversial and get attention.
Well that was the one thing he did get right. Just a bit too late and not to his favour.
These lessons must still be learned by the youngsters from Limpopo who recently attacked a popular TikTok creator on his own platform.
In a viral video they can be heard using the K-word on Sonwabile-D repeatedly and unapologetically.
Now, I have my own views on the K-word in that I believe we should desensitise our kids from the word by owning it and using, the way Black Americans did with the N-word.
But that’s a story for another day. Young people remain highly sensitive to the word, especially when it is used to insult and hurt.
While the perpetrators have been sanctioned by their school, it is nothing compared to what may still happen when they are adults looking for jobs.
They may make amends and even have the offending video removed, the way Gouws did. But remember, the internet never forgets.
The biggest problem with the whole thing is that it doesn’t make any accommodation for genuine growth and a change of mind. If you have the temerity to state your views online as a youngster, the internet will hold you to that view, despite the passage of time.
And we all know that youngsters are blinded by the boldness of youth. Just think about all the stupid things your younger self did and said, convinced that you were absolutely right.
Now just imagine for a moment that you had recorded those things in a very public diary for all to see and recall years later.
You see, part of the human condition is that we allow our children to go through the natural growing pains, which includes being all-knowing.
It’s the reason behind the silly saying: “Employ teenagers, while they still know everything.”
But the internet means that youthful missteps made online, will never be forgotten.
Granted, the examples I cite above are particularly egregious. But a few years ago, the impact would have been lessened by the absence of social media.
These people would have offended only a few people in their immediate orbit.
I would venture a guess that there are people in positions of power who hold – and express views that are a whole lot worse.
But they are probably older and “wiser” and therefore less likely to broadcast it to the world on social media.
And that is really the point.
Young people, understand that your view of the world is still very narrow and tainted by youthful ignorance.
Your beliefs may seem reasonable to you now, but I strongly advise you not to make them permanent, by posting them on social media.
The internet never forgets. And your future boss may not be so ready to forgive.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za