‘Social’ Justice
Let not the Mob Justice or ‘Trial’ by Social Media phenomenon live on.
We all have our own business to mind. But to meddle and indulge too much about other people’s affairs might be too damaging to oneself, and the society at large.
There are just too much sufferings and negativity going on in the world, and these are amplified through the viral nature of social media and the instant gratification mobile phones have given us.
We all want to make news, but to make news at the expense of others, without fully understanding the context and story, that is called, leveraging on someone’s misfortune and plight.
Newsmakers in the name of journalistic integrity, want to uncover truth within us; but the true intention is often masked by the underlying need to make the content viral or shareable, & to generate views and reach in order to re-sell the platforms to potential advertisers and sponsors. This is a common dilemma in media organisations.
Commoners, aka as people like you and me, are in search to content to post daily, and often times, we are conditioned or forced to post controversial and trending issues; so we can ‘go with the flow’; & as what advertisers will always hope, higher ‘engagement rate’ as a result.
We all have our coffeeshop talk; sure, to talk about trivial things like the weather and food has always been in us; but to cultivate a breed of keyboard warriors, who take every opportunity to be self-righteous, and to throw stones even though its none of their business, could be very scary.
Everyone is trying to leech on an unfortunate moment, person or incident. And if you happen to be one of them, aka topic of the day or flavor of the month, you are potentially in danger.
Think Jacqueline Wong, Think Nicholas Lim.
It was reported that Jacqueline Wong has been seen crying at home and is in serious mental breakdown. How much more do we want to push her?
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for the searching of truths and justice. If things go wrong, we mend it. If people hurt you, you retaliate. There’s nothing wrong.
My focus is on the bystanders and crowd watchers. What do we do with these situations? Do we take every opportunity to throw our stones? Do we take every opportunity to turn it into a youtube topic, an instagram story, or facebook updates? Or do we take a step back and think critically about the issues presented on digital media and word of mouth.
Do we believe everything that the media tells us?
Do we believe everything that Facebook tells us?
You decide.