I wouldn’t say I’m surprised that there are a lot of ‘Issues‘ that are happening lately and those seem they never rest and completely and inevitably make the community a literal warzone today. Now there’s nothing wrong with sharing awareness especially if it would danger one’s safety. But, oh boy; We Filipinos love putting ‘Issue’ on even in child-like fights, aren’t we? In this editorial, I would like to tackle the topic of the dangers of making everything an ‘Issue,’ the good and bad, and the ugly of today’s social media.
‘Issue.’ This is probably the favorite word of everyone regardless of age, fandom, and even profession. I do digest some of those so-called ‘Issues’ myself but it’s just mostly the most important ones like reports of stalking, sexual harassment and abuse, and any life-threatening attempts. But I also see a lot of just plain taking a whiz to the person they don’t like which is just a petty excuse to publicly tell to not interact with this particular person because they like doing ‘mass hate.’ I know this because I experienced such senseless reasons why “You shouldn’t listen to that person because of this and that” and for the most part, they’re suppressing what could’ve been the advancement in the community they’re trying to grow. Now, I wouldn’t say gatekeeping isn’t bad, but there’s a threshold where to gatekeep such and when it shouldn’t be.
The Good
Just to make it clear that I’m not saying to condone raising awareness and concerns that would be beneficial to any community. One of the notable examples is the most-recently cosplay convention event that would even take pride in not having their attendees accommodation to sit or standby within the convention premises. Now this is valid for a reason because, for one, attendees are paying good hard cash to experience good conventions where they can both see what they offer and socialize within the community. However, it seems inhumane not at least put spaces for attendees to give space and not allow attendees to take a rest inside forcing them to keep walking. Fortunately, the statement has already been released that they’ll make sure that won’t happen again and they will talk to their venue management to refine better crowd control. This also benefits other people surrounding the industry to be aware of what to do and even extend help to drive them to do better. This ‘Issue’ is valid because it concerns the safety of the attendees enjoying the event, not just convenience. There are some good things about voicing criticisms but unfortunately, the majority of that community didn’t even know when it was considered criticism and when it became a personal attack.
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| Detail from “Ecco Homo” (1896) by Mihaly Munkacsy (Wikimedia Commons) |
The Bad
The thing with us… Filipinos don’t know when they crossed the line either when it comes to ‘raising awareness.’ Let’s start with the biggest factor that I usually see: Personal Attacks. Now, this is where I see a bit of a problem with most people calling out too, whatever the result of the ‘Issue’ either if it’s debunked, resolved, and all; It always ended up being attacked personally and ironically way irrelevant to their ‘elephant in the room,’ or rather making the hatred more of a personal than a criticism regarding such actions. Greek philosopher Socrates quoted ‘When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.’ Unfortunately, Filipinos regardless of what community they go into suffer from this barbaric practice.
What I also don’t like about Filipinos is they love mobs and crabs; ‘Mob Mentality‘ and ‘Crab Mentality.’ This also becomes the toxic essence of how the ‘Issue’ they’re voicing out is outright bad and senseless. It’s so sad to see a lot of posts being called out for such child-ish fights either; For sure, “I’m not comfortable with this person and you guys should be aware and be hating this person” but only for their convenience, and for the most part that person they’re attacking didn’t do anything wrong, adding insult to that injury is some senseless people are lighting the fire to make sure they see them fight either verbally or physically. And I know some of you will mostly agree: Things with ‘Filipinos’ on such endeavors don’t always mix. There will be always that one bad seed that would spoil the whole community rotten.
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| Nagi2-Komeoweda (r/grandorder) |
The Ugly
This would also bring us to the ugly of Filipinos making ‘Issues’ in social media. Yes, they express their dislike because it’s only convenient for them and a blatant excuse to personally attack the person they don’t like. To their credit, when they make memes or humor about that issue, we are excellent with that and that’s both good and bad. The other ugly thing is a lot of people ignore both the good and bad sides of the dangers of making ‘Issues.’ Sadly, Filipino communities are still too ignorant to the point that it’s best to just give apathy. Now there’s nothing wrong with that as well on paper especially the other bad thing that I mentioned earlier (senseless and child-like fights,) but we still notice a lot of people in the community that uses this for clout-chasing and the insulting part of that is majority didn’t know the danger of dipping their toes to the such topic and ironically, it’s much worse than those oppressor’s sympathizers.
Conclusion
I understand we grew up watching showbiz and reality dramas like ‘The Buzz,’ ‘Raffy Tulfo in Action,’ etc. But it’s sad to tell people this but REALITY ISN’T ALWAYS LIKE YOU SEE ON TV. This is exactly why the majority of the community consumes and feeds senseless ‘Issues’ because it’s fun to see them fight or be in a fight is plainly delusional (and it’s the even worse type of delusional compared to Rikka from Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions.) As my one fellow media friend said: ‘Toxicity is inevitable.‘ But I wish I replied with some line like ‘But do we wanna stay with that forever?’ The dangers of making ‘Issues’ are getting out of hand already and some social media groups and communities are suppressing such topics and that’s for an unfortunate reason: They can’t distinguish which one is valid or not. We’re drifting away from actually fixing the toxic mentality that every community has with other senseless callouts that it’s only convenient to you and your small circle of friends.
Unfortunately, a large majority of people thrive on “controversy.” Most often than not, if there is no issue, then an issue will be made to talk about it. If nothing else, for clout and attention. One of the major downsides of constant internet and social media access is the illusion that one is smarter than everyone else. Another is a constant need for attention or validation as if their very existence is justified by how strong their social presence is online. And while the internet and social media have paved the way for addressing major issues, they also paved the way for people to play victim to get out of accountability or simply for attention.
– Howl of The Broken Controller, EXOSIA Project Talent, and Content Creator
Are we too late to rectify the toxicity? No. It’s never too late. It starts with you, as a part of any community you love to be with. Choose how you make ‘Issues’ wisely. Ask yourself these questions first: Is it worth the bad publicity that the person you’re targeting? Is it going to benefit the community you’re in? And are you ready to receive potential backfires? If one out of the three is something you can’t answer or can’t commit, best to reconsider. And for those who passed the three questions and made a valid awareness: Remember that’s the power you’re handling and it’s your responsibility as well to account for what you want to raise awareness for.
And for those who wanted to make ‘Issues’ just because it’s fun: Go f*** Yourself. The community doesn’t need you and you’re making harm than good despite hilarious humor.
(just to let you know, that’s actually the message of my 2017 track ‘SUNTUKAN.’)
