On Online Naming and Shaming

Before I begin this week's post, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and friends of the late CFC (NS) Aloysius Pang, who unfortunately passed on due to a serious training injury sustained during Exercise Thunder Warrior. This incident was certainly unnecessary and avoidable, and has shaken up the SAF and Singapore as a whole. 

As an SAF soldier, I sincerely hope that his death will not be in vain, and that the SAF will take all necessary steps to prevent such further incidents. 

However, as I am an SAF personnel, I am not allowed to speak out or speculate on public platforms on such cases. I will leave the findings and investigation to the Committee of Inquiry (COI). Furthermore, speculating on the matter would be extremely insensitive to the deceased's family, and frankly unprofessional. I will leave the matter as it is here.

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Singapore is certainly an "online" country. Why I say this is because you can see people around always glued to their screens, most of them on social media. Therefore, any happenings on this small island travels very quickly. News outlets have transitioned from their regular print news to online news. Not only can we be regularly updated by local news, we can also follow foreign news outlets and be updated of news overseas too!

Although Singaporeans can be labelled as an emotionless bunch due to a fast paced society, "emotionless" is far from how Singaporeans express themselves online. Any positive news article online will be showered with praise and congratulations (such as the recent news of Loh Kean Yew defeating Badminton legend Lin Dan in the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters competition in Bangkok 2 weeks ago). Any negative (or 'bad news') news article will have strong angry sentiments, such as the all-so-common "blame the 70%" comment. This makes Singapore netizens a rather unforgiving bunch when it comes to online backlash against people who have erred. The issue of online naming and shaming is further exacerbated by the "mob mentality" many have, to gang up on those who deserve to be beat up. Or maybe sometimes it's just simply FOMO (fear of missing out). 

One good example recently is the case late last year on a road hogging cyclist hitting the side mirror off a lorry, and the lorry driver then swerving to the side and slamming into the cyclist. The online community expressed their outrage against the lack of road discipline by the cyclist, going as far as to "name and shame" him. When it was heard that both the cyclist and lorry driver will stand trial for the road accident, netizens were enraged that the lorry driver had to be charged for the incident, strongly believing that the cyclist was at full fault, or at least deserving maximum karma for his wrongdoings.

Another case, which prompted me to write this post, was on a Senior Entertainment Correspondent with Lianhe Zaobao and Wanbao, Hong Ming Hua. In light of the recent tragic passing of Aloysius Pang, Hong approached Pang's girlfriend, Jayley Woo, and allegedly (and later personally confessed) pestered her for her comments on the matter, despite the latter wishing for privacy in a difficult moment. When news on the matter got out, netizens were enraged at the lack of sensitivity by the reporter, and flooded his Instagram posts with angry comments. Even after Hong posted an apology, the online community was still furious and unforgiving of his actions.

Actually, the issue of online naming and shaming is not new to Singapore. I remember when I was a Year 4 student back in NUSHS, I delivered an advocacy speech as part of an English Language module requirement on the same issue too. Back then, I raised the examples of Amos Yee, Jover Chew (scammer of Sim Lim Square), and Anton Casey (posted a picture of his son online making derogatory comments of Singaporeans taking public transport).

So, what's the issue about online naming and shaming?

Singaporeans have a strong sense of social justice, whereby if someone makes a mistake, he should pay for it. This makes Singaporeans especially sensitive on matters posted online, where everyone can see as pass judgement. Having a strong sense of justice is a very good thing actually, but it must be put to proper use.

In many of these online naming and shaming cases, netizens take it too far to "punish" the offenders, taking the law into their own hands. Some have dug up the contact numbers of offenders and sent hate mail to them, others going as far as to harass them at their workplace, or even threaten to hurt their family. Certainly not all netizens do what they say online and actually harm the offender, but the acts netizens threaten (whether they perform it or not), actually makes them liable to be charged criminally. This sentiment has also been echoed by law minister K Shanmugam. In fact, somebody really took the law into his own hands, slapping Amos Yee in front of the courts back in 2015. The man was then sentenced to jail for his actions.

Although some of the offenders did not commit crimes legally speaking, their actions are still considered immoral by society standards. Therefore, online naming and shaming is what netizens consider as "punishment" for the offenders. However, the effects go beyond just making the offender learn from his mistakes. Some lose their jobs, some have their families broken, some even have to flee overseas in fear of reprecussions towards themselves on their families. We have to wonder, yes what these people did was immoral, but did they really need to have their lives ruined to such an extent?

Another problem with online naming and shaming is accusing the wrong person of offending. Especially for road incidents, the wrong person may be identified as the only evidence is just an in car camera footage. In the case of the lorry driver and the cyclist, someone was actually mistakenly identified as the cyclist, and was lambasted online, until he spoke out and proved he wasn't the cyclist. In fact, he was injured (recovering from surgery) and was on MC from work that day. The online abuse stopped, but the damage had already been done. In fact, as long as it takes to spread online the identity of an offender, it takes just as long, or even longer, to debunk the myth of the offender's identity, as netizens already assume his guilt! While the long term effects on someone wrongly accused are minimal, the short term effects of having to firefight the online hatred (and impact on those around him) are rather great too.

This is not to say, however, that online naming and shaming is bad. In fact, as mentioned earlier, online naming and shaming is an effect of the strong sense of social justice of Singaporeans, which is a good thing! However, it must be put to good use, and sensible minds have to overcome misplaced anger. By all means, criticize the person for his doings, even report them to the police, but know when to stop. Don't involve peoples' families, colleagues, or workplaces into the matter, the offender was the person, not his family, nor his colleagues. Don't bring online matters into real life, and certainly don't take the law into your own hands. You may teach the offender a lesson, but you may end up ruining your own life as a result.

And of course, verify the facts before making any conclusion or comments. Don't be the dumbass posting fake news, or even worse being a blind follower and spreading the fake news without checking its authenticity. Again, it does not only make others look bad, but it reflects badly on yourself too. Don't just follow a mob blindly. Use your own brain to discern what is the right thing to do before jumping on to any bandwagon.

The internet is certainly a double-edged sword. It connects people together, but it can also divide them. Whether one is a positive user of the internet, or is an internet troll, depends on how he/she projects him/herself online. Online naming and shaming is a good way to see who is using the internet responsibly, and who uses it to make this world even gloomier than it already is.

Let's all try to be good people, even online, shall we?