Here's what: Internet makes people mean. Everywhere you go on the web, there would always be one or two people dishing out nasty comments on the discussion. But why go far when you can just go Twitter and look who's being ridiculed by the netizens by checking on the trending topics. The same may be said about Facebook where FAN PAGES can simply be created to insult people. What lead me to this post?
Yesterday, a UP (University of the Philippines) Law Graduate drove his car through a waist-deep flooded street much to his car's dismay. The angry Christopher Lao, interviewed by the local media, in all his frustration blamed the bystanders for not informing him about how deep the flood is. Good Lord, bless you, Mr. Lao. In a matter of minutes, the video of this interview went viral and Mr. Lao now has a Facebook fan page with (as of last checking) has more than 40,000 likes--this started from 2,000 early the night before. Reading on the posts on the fan page's wall is a chore. It is an endless tirade made by countless people, some of them using even fake accounts for good measure.
I am not writing to express my sympathy with Mr. Lao as his was a mistake anyone could have possibly made--but surely the phrasing of his comments made him an overnight celebrity, which if he can exploit properly and take with a pinch of salt, can send him to Philippine Show Business. Yes, dear, that's how it works here. Perhaps we can say that his comments in the interview was born of frustration and arrogance, but how hard was it to just say, "yeah, I was stupid enough to drive through the flood thinking it wasn't that deep." And granted he was that stupid and arrogant, I just feel that such fan pages warrant nothing but empty entertainment and an emotionally bruised Mr. Lao (again, a person with a more incontrovertible sense of humor would have made out of this unscathed and probably would even have guested in a morning talk show, but Mr. Lao doesn't strike me as one). It's his fault, but why should we go about rubbing it all over his face that not only was it his fault, he is also the biggest arrogant who made it to primetime TV last night?
What makes me sad is not that people are making fun of him: it's how people harshly respond to some things over social media. Reporter Karen Davila has before said that Social Media has made us anti-social (of course she might have just picked it up somewhere, but then again it is something wise to tweet). One does not even need to look at the trending topics. Surely we all have that one friend / follower who does nothing on his/her time but to tweet mean stuff (Guy Kawasaki's definitive 5 types of twitter users lists this type as the b!tch). I have some of these who I cannot unfollow as they are good acquaintances and such would seem curt. Sometimes--on a bad day--I just wanna step up to them and yell on their ear, "Hey, before you go calling people ugly, go check the mirror, buddy," or "Hey, tard, use a real pic of yourself before calling my friend ugly in his profile pic." But I can't as that would just be mean and And besides, this:
Arguing with these people just won't change anything. But letting them be saves you time. And also makes you more social-media-friendly, I realize. Your tweets are not tainted with heated arguments.
I've gone off-track. Sadly, this is what the Internet has made of us--mean people ready to rub a witty, if not harsh, salt to the humiliating wound like we are close friends to strangers who just made a bad call on national TV and such banter would not matter. I have had my fill of this, and I'm glad I have my friends to banter with. I do not have to waste my dry wit on people who have made it to today's entertainment column. And while the Internet continues to be mean, I guess the only thing I can do is to filter what I read and click those unfollow buttons.
Have a great day ahead.
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