Editor Lyndon Keane says the change in wording on the new sign at Pajinka is causing more than a few keyboard warriors to get hot under the collar as their protests for the old icon’s return barely cloak the underlying racism driving their engagement on Cape York social media pages. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
If you want to bring out the worst in people, hand them a keyboard and leave them unsupervised on social media.
The erection of a replacement for the bullet-riddled Pajinka sign last month that includes a reference to the northernmost part of the continent’s Traditional Owners has been like the proverbial red rag to some social media users, who have spewed forth a sea of racist commentary thinly disguised as genuine opposition to the change.
While I have a sneaking suspicion the aforementioned Traditional Owners knew exactly what they were doing and may have had political motivations in mind when they ordered the new sign, the online response has been nothing short of abhorrent, and a sad peek behind the curtains of how social media has become a happy hunting ground for mindless muppets who believe every waking thought they have should be shared for the benefit of humanity.
One of the comments proffered by a member of the social media brains trust suggested taking an angle grinder to the sign and lobbing it into the ocean in an act of defiant protest, while several users said they were planning to take duct tape to cover up the new wording when it was their turn for a Pajinka happy snap.
Fun fact: if the wording of a sign is your primary focus when you’re standing in what truly is one of the most remarkable spots on the planet, it says more about you than it does an acknowledgement of Frangipani Beach’s Traditional Owners.
It’s been interesting – in a sad clown kind of way – to look at who’s been making most of the vile, overtly racist comments to photos of families beaming at the iconic tip of Cape York after completing the journey of a lifetime. Sadly, it’s not just southern city dwellers having a crack at anyone who’s a different colour to themselves – I’ve spotted more than a few well-known Cape York names amongst the throng of online haters.
It’s not just the racists who have found themselves at home in the Cape’s social media backyard.
On 29 June, a popular Facebook page with more than 300,000 followers posted an update that the beleaguered Jardine River ferry was again out of action. The problem is that there was – for once – nothing wrong with the vessel, with the fake news post seemingly created for no other reason than to stir shit and fuel the flames of racial division through a contentious topic.
Unfortunately, the near-250 shares of the post and more than 1,800 comments on it are hardly the sort of crap likely to help our struggling tourism operators, who are already behind the eight ball for 2025 after actual ferry breakdowns caused hordes of early dry season visitors to postpone or cancel their Cape York odyssey.
It seems like some of our top performing online trolls and carrot danglers don’t care their comments have genuine and extremely tangible impacts on businesses, communities and individuals. As long as they feel powerful, clever and justified from the relative anonymity of their lounge room, these online cockroaches don’t care who gets caught up in the crossfire of their actions.
It’s got to stop.
Cape York has enough social and economic challenges as it is without our magical part of the world becoming a stomping ground for division, racism and those looking to actively antagonise just to let a thread burn.
If you don’t think you can say something nice and bring thoughtful, useful commentary to the table on a topic pertaining to our backyard, maybe just hide your keyboard somewhere you won’t be tempted to reach for it. On the roof perhaps, or in a nest of crocodile eggs.
