BFTP | When Media Shames the Little
Guy
(Commentary by Craig J Selby)
The whole world has been against a few
Irish tourists who caused a bit of a fracas in my country of origin recently.
British publications, Australian publications, Asian publications condemning
the tourists for their “bad behavior”, and put their names and faces for all to
see.
Oh, wow! If only the same attention to
detail was put to every criminal in the world. The world might be a safer
place, NOT.
The issue here is not when something goes
viral, but it when something viral is perpetuated by mainstream media, and the
“public shaming” goes far beyond the extent of the initial action/s.
Daily updates from the New Zealand Herald
propagated story after story regarding the tourists – where they are now, the
latest thing they ‘did’, and people’s reaction to them.
OVERKILL!
Did the tourists do wrong? Yes. Did they
deserve to be called out for it? Yes. Did they deserve global attention and the
constant condemnation they received for dropping rubbish, trying a quick scam
at a restaurant or two? Probably not.
My point is not about the over-attention
per se (although that is an issue), but more towards the fact that online
content which goes viral can and will be picked up by mainstream media, and
then it becomes mainstream media’s responsibility to determine where the
ethical cutoff line is. They may have failed in this case.
The world is looking for NEGATIVES, and
social media is driving this. Social media, which was meant to be friendly, a
place for innocent cats and food photos. Not any more it seems.
Public shaming is part and parcel of the
social media age, but the enthusiasm for it tends to snowball to mainstream
media too. This is a dangerous development. We need to ask ourselves, are we
doing the right thing by continuously pushing these little things to the point
that they blow out of proportion.
Put yourself in the position of the Irish
family. Not innocent at all, but the harassment they have received, both at the
fingers of keyboard warriors and the hands of mainstream media – did we, as a
society go overboard?
Closer to home, we see many examples where
this happens too. Sometimes death threats, or threats of violence, are
received. All for what? Some stupid, ill-advised action or statement.
As a society, we have allowed our shadow to
be dominant, behind the guide of social media, without any thought to the
consequence for all parties affected. It’s time to bring some ethics back, and
look at the severity of our response to the issue at hand.
You might not agree with me, and that’s
fine. But, boundaries are changing, and we have to decide when enough is
enough.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Image Source:
www.latimes.com
heapsgay.com
No comments:
Post a Comment