The framing of a recent report by the Children’s Ombudsman which claimed that nearly two-thirds of children have come across extremist views online is “insulting,” a Senator has said.
The recent taxpayer funded report warned of the rise of extremism among the youth, after 626 students in 28 secondary schools across the country took part in the online survey.
Independent Senator Sharon Keogan addressed the December report in the Seanad on Tuesday, saying that “extremism does not appear out of thin air.”
“It is a response, a backlash, to a deteriorating situation in this country. Furthermore, when we look at what has been labelled as extremist among the legitimate cases, we too often find views that most people for most of history would have called common sense,” Keogan said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk5PtA0vJp8
According to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office, 84% of students said they hear negative comments about immigration or housing. 61% of students said they often hear comments that society should revert to ‘traditional’ gender roles and 51% have heard views that men are more entitled to more authority than women.
This prompted the OCO to call on the Government to “further explore the growth of extremist views among children and put in place a plan to tackle this problem from an early age.” The Office said it recommended that children’s rights have a special focus in regulatory work around AI “given the clear link between the online world and extremism.”
Commenting, Senator Keogan said: “This is the Government’s latest trick. Slap the word extremist on anyone who dares to question it.
“It is a way to villainise the ordinary people, ignore its own horrific level of failure, and scapegoat the natural backlash as the work of some shadowy agents spreading addictive, nefarious ideas online.
“This study from the Office of the Ombudsman for Children is a perfect example of that. It is framed as if young people are clueless victims, brainwashed by extremists lurking in the dark corners of the Internet. That framing is insulting. It assumes our young people have no agency and no ability to think critically, and we are conveniently led to the conclusion that the State must swoop in to save young people from themselves.”
‘A NARRATIVE DRESSED UP AS DATA’
The Senator said that the methodology also had to be looked at.
“Twenty-eight schools, hand-picked from a list of 200, many already linked to OCO programmes, voluntarily participated. There was no random sampling, no definition of extremism and no weighing for gender imbalance. This is not robust research; it is a narrative dressed up as data. For that reason, it is worthless as evidence for policy.”
“If the Government wants to understand why people are angry and are pushing back, it should start looking in the mirror. The greatest extremism in Ireland is extremism of failure. We have failure on housing, immigration, law and order and basic governance, and until that changes, the backlash will continue, no matter how many surveys are published pretending otherwise.”
The Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon said:
“Children are not immune from the world around them and as with most issues impacting society, our survey suggests children are also being impacted by the growing tide of extremist views in what they hear and see at home, among their friends and peers and predominantly, online.”