Shielding

It came as no surprise to learn that in his final days, Captain Sir Tom Moore was shielded by his family. After all, he was rightly a national hero when he raised nearly £33m for NHS charities. You need to look after people like him, especially when they are 100 years old. But it was not the kind of shielding I was expecting. Captain Tom was shielded from online abuse and trolls.

His daughter Hannah revealed as much when appearing on the BBC Breakfast show which first brought his epic fundraising efforts to public notice. She did not reveal the content of the abuse and quite right too. Why give these online tools the publicity they are craving? And given that my own social networks have become an echo chamber I don’t often see this kind of abuse. But what, exactly, goes on in someone’s mind to think that Captain Tom is a deserving target of online abuse?

In answer to the last question, I have no idea. I know that Captain Tom’s family were wealthy, living in an enormous house and that his grandson goes to a private school, but so what? if anything, the fact that he was more than comfortable with his own lot shows him in an even better light. He could easily have sat around doing nothing. Instead, as befits someone who served his country in the armed forces, he felt he had a duty to serve. So he walked. Then he walked some more. Then he walked until he raised £33m, which made the lives of other people better. Tell me one thing that is bad about what he did?

Even in our country, that has been divided by all sorts of things in recent years, is overwhelmingly in support of what Captain Tom did. Indeed, his actions inspired others to do similar things. In a country short of heroes, he became one. He was the best of us.

Those who sit in front of a keyboard, cowards abusing others through the anonymity that the internet can provide, are the very worst of us. They would never, in a million years, have the courage to abuse and troll in public and, moreover, they would never do good like Captain Tom did.

My overwhelming feeling to these abusers is not one of anger. It’s pity. It must be a sad and lonely world to inhabit, knowing that most of your contemporaries, would, if they knew who they were, regard you as lower than vermin.

I’m glad Captain Tom was shielded from the abuse. If the police could track down and expose the abusers, that would be great, but Captain Tom’s achievements matter more. If there was a hell for the abusers to go to, I’d wave them off at the right time. It’s a pity there isn’t because they don’t deserve any better.