THIS has been an interesting week after last Saturday night’s crowning of the 2016 Miss Solomons Pageant.
Camilla Grossmith, who was sponsored by King Solomon Hotel, was our new queen.
We congratulate Ms Grossmith and wish her well as she prepares to stake her claim for the Miss Pacific Islands crown.
Last Saturday’s crowning ceremony was a beauty.
It was a night of glamour and those who paid to attend testified it was money well-spent.
But like other big events, the ceremony has its own glitches.
The mix-up in the results at the end of what was a glamourous night was one of the mistakes that sent local social media users into over-drive this week.
This was after one of the contestants, Sara Cave, took to facebook to express her embarrassment at being stripped of an earlier position she was awarded, in front of the crowd.
A day after the crowning night, the results were further adjusted, resulting in Ms Cave coming last in the overall standing.
The mix-up in the results was indeed an issue of great concern.
And every Solomon Islander has the right to talk about it.
But the manner in which the issue was discussed on Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) facebook page was quite disappointing.
There was simply a lack of control in the way some FSII members expressed their views on the issue.
It seemed their emotions got the better of them in their contributions to what is supposed to be an issue that should be discussed constructively.
They called the judges and organisers of the pageant all kinds of names that were not only degrading, but highly disrespectful.
FSII is a social media platform established to discuss national issues of concern in a constructive and respectful manner.
This is a noble intention and one that its members need to seriously consider when expressing their views on the forum.
It was quite sad to see of late that a few of the FSII members were dragging this auspicious social media forum down the gutter through their inconsiderate and ill-conceived comments.
The freedom of expression we enjoy does not give one the right to unfairly attack and berate a fellow Solomon Islander, who is trying to do something good for the country.
The organisers of the 2016 Miss Solomons Pageant are professionals in their own right. They have done their best to organise the event with the little funding they’ve secured.
So too are the judges selected to pick the winning contestant that night.
Humans as they are, they are bound to make mistakes like every one of us do.
Perhaps the decisions they came up with on that night may not be right.
In the views of the mass, they may have made a bad decision.
But that does not give another Solomon Islander the right to call them all kinds of names.
If you disagree with their decision, say so, and in a nice and respectful manner.
You don’t have to call people names or spew abusive utterances to get your point across.
A lot of social media users these days are just waiting out there to pounce on their fellow Solomon Islanders when they made a mistake.
Their intention is to humiliate and shoot down their fellow countrymen from doing something for this country.
This is a bad attitude and one that must be discouraged if we want to move our country forward.
Social media, like the mainstream media, is a powerful tool that Solomon Islanders can use to encourage each other.
Let’s use it to build each other than to tear each other apart.
