The hate was constant and visceral. Every morning, it would be waiting for me in the inbox. It wasn't criticism of what I had written but a deep and personal rage manifested in insults and absurd accusations.

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I was in the pay of big pharma for writing about COVID. Or a wily propagandist for the one world government because I'd written about the 15-minute city town planning concept. I was tyranny's henchman. No better than Joseph Goebbels.

And I would get my comeuppance. He told me he couldn't wait to see me swing from a rope for my crimes against humanity. It was that veiled threat that led to him being blocked. I suspect he then turned his malevolent attention elsewhere.

I've seen plenty of anger in my long career. Parents furious their children had featured in court reports. Politicians upset with stories I'd written about them. Advocates annoyed I wasn't writing enough about whatever issue they wanted covered. Bowls club publicity officers miffed that their 5000-word reports had been cut down to fit the paper.

But this bloke was different. He wanted me dead even though we'd never met or spoken.

I've imagined him lonely and disempowered, his furious rants perhaps cathartic, getting all that anger at the world off his chest by funnelling it through his keyboard. Maybe he's found his tribe among the sovereign citizens or chemtrail obsessed conspiracy theorists. Hopefully, he hasn't hurt anyone. And, importantly, hasn't harmed himself.

One thing is certain. He is not alone with his rage.

Anger has become the modern world's currency. Venturing briefly back into social media the other day after a lengthy self-imposed exile I was stunned. It was even angrier than when I left it.

A shouty post from some bloke about how terrible it was for NSW Premier Chris Minns to be in India promoting his state attracted a swarm of angry and racist comments. The algorithm assumed it was exactly the sort of "content" I'd be interested in. It didn't register my disgust and quickly served up more of the same. No wonder online hate is on the march.

According to the eSafety Commissioner more than 50 per cent of young people have encountered online hate directed at cultural or religious groups. Indigenous Australians and members of the queer community experience it at twice the national average.

Sometimes the hate metastasises with terrible consequences like those we saw at Bondi. Thirty-three per cent of young people report coming across online videos or images promoting acts of terrorism. In court this week a 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty to planning a terrorist attack on the Sydney Marathon after being radicalised on TikTok and Telegram.

Writing about the hate epidemic in The New Daily in July, Simon Kuestenmacher made the following excellent point: "The internet did not invent........

© Canberra Times