Dissecting the virtual Filipino mob
by Arbie T. Baguios on October 27, 2011
Illustration by Bj L. Abesamis
In the book, The Prospect of Internet Democracy, Michael Margolis and Gerson Moreno-Riaño write, “Democracy requires that the people be educated, but how much education is enough? Advocates believe that widespread access to the Internet will bring enlightened understanding.”
Will it really?
I am an ardent believer of the Internet’s democratizing capability. In fact, my senior thesis is on the Internet’s role in promoting liberal democracy in Egypt. With the recent rise of social media lynch mobs in our country however, it demands a second look.
In the span of one semester, the names of Mideo Cruz, Christopher Lao, and Ateneo’s own James Soriano have achieved notoriety. All of them have had their own share of nationwide controversy: Cruz’s penis-adorned Catholic paraphernalia art exhibit, Lao on being misinformed and Soriano’s tongue-in-cheek column on the state of the Filipino language.
Their names became trending topics on Twitter, berated by many angry bloggers and praised by a plucky few. Their unpopular opinions were engaged by responses of all kinds—from brief tweets to lengthy blog posts of attacks and acclaims, both by the famous and anonymous.
A small portion of these responses have had at least a semblance of analysis. After all, that is where the democratizing power of the Internet lies—as a public sphere accommodating discourse that make for an enlightened civil society.
Unfortunately, there are those responses that I would consider far from enlightened.
A certain Thom Puno wrote this as a comment on one of Cruz’s photos in the album of his art exhibit:
NANAWAGAN AKO SA MGA N.P.A. VIGILANTE ..REBELDEL SUNDALO.. YUN MGA GANITO TAO TULAD NILA MIDEO CRUZ. CHRISTIAN TAN.. AT MGA KASAMA NILA.. ITO YUN DAPAT PINAG PAPATAY. (sic)
User shinlord00000 on YouTube wrote this as a comment on the news clip featuring Lao:
ipapa gas chamber ka ni Hitler Christopher Lao !! sa katangahan mo animal mong gungung ka!! naninisikapa? Tanga kalang isa kanang ganap na istupidong animal! (sic)
User Sunny C commented the following on a blog post in defense of Soriano:
walang masama sa sinulat ni james ‘mukhang aeta’ soriano. sana doon na lang sa blog niya. (sic)
And there’s plenty more where that came from. So how exactly do these contribute to civil society?
In the heat of the moment, many Filipino netizens acted like a mob, jumping into the frenzy and eager to throw a thoughtless line or two. All of this to acquire the most likes, retweets or comments from their like-minded online comrades.
The honest intentions of these authors were blown out of proportion. Suddenly, how their parents raised them or what academic institutions they attended were put into question.
Nina Funnel from The Sydney Morning Herald wrote on online mobs, “What is different about the modern social media witch-hunt is that people no longer have to travel, pitchfork in hand, to the town centre to revel in mob hysteria. They can do so online, from their bedrooms.” This is especially easy to do under the cloak of anonymity.
Perhaps they are unaware of the real world implications of their collective yet simple actions: emotional distress for the authors and their immediate family, and an indelible tarnish to their names.
Has Internet democracy turned into the tyranny of the majority, an ochlocracy, the rule of the mob?
I hope not.
That is to say, at least there are people talking about these relevant issues, and many do so in an intelligent and civil manner. But that is not to say that in civil society, there will be no trolls. There will always be trolls. If we don’t feed them however, they won’t breed and we would have fewer of their kind to deal with.
With great power comes great responsibility, you know the line. It doesn’t mean that if you have a gun, you can get away with shooting someone. Let us practice democracy—a deliberative one. And do what GMA’s responsible social media campaign in response to the Christopher Lao brouhaha tells you to, “Think before you click!”
A postmodern twist to a classic maxim goes: “You have the right to your own opinion, but I have the right to tell you how stupid it is.” Go ahead, I insist. But please do so in a manner that would not prove the opposite to be true.
Editor’s Note: This article is the personal opinion of the writer.
