Citizen journalism my ass

MANILA, Philippines - There’s a reason why journalism developed into a specialization. While community participation via regular citizens sharing their direct experience of relevant events can be a very good thing, the job also comes with a code of ethics and the ability to make judgment calls. What and what not to report? What angles to take? How to maintain respect of your subjects?

Citizen journalism works brilliantly during crisis situations. It adds efficiency to the reporting of whatever’s going on, without having to send actual journalists to every corner of the affected areas. There is also no more reason to miss out on anything. As long as there’s a person with a camera phone on the scene, a sudden event can be relayed to the general public.

When the going goes from tough to boring, however, a number of these citizens abuse their social media power by using it to defame people who weren’t even famous to begin with. All it takes is five minutes of being on your worst behavior and it’s over for you. You will never be beheld by society the same way ever again.

Big deal

It’s weird that these videos even become a big deal. Screaming, displays of arrogance, fistfights — it all feels pretty normal. Not in the everyday sense, but more like it-happens normal. I’ve screamed, been arrogant, and perhaps the only reason I haven’t punched anyone is because I’m a girl who isn’t fond of exercise. I have neither the social nor physical conditioning to win at it. But yes, all these people did is dip into the darker, mortifying side of humanity — a place I’m sure we’re all familiar with, too.

And oh, that teacher who hit a student? I don’t know the whole story, but I can imagine that too. I was a music education major on practicum and there was this kid who wasn’t just the normal rowdy-because-he’s-at-that-stage kind — he knew he was pissing me off. And every meeting he would continue to try his best. I almost hit him. I just managed to catch myself in the nick of time. And it’s a very fortunate thing that I did, because I was really mad. I’m not saying I condone such behavior. I’m saying that under certain circumstances, anybody can do it. It’s easy to forget that when you’re currently in a place where the world is allowing you to be your best self (and when you have no idea how provoking students can be; believe me, it’s possible to forget that they’re minors).

The point is, we’re not always loving life and being oh-so-nice to people. We have our days, some of them bad enough to inspire quick bouts of snappy assholery toward the person who unwittingly delivers the flick to our trembling tower of cards. And while I believe in apologies, not excuses, I don’t think anyone deserves to have their bruhilda moments immortalized on Facebook — because we’re all assholes. And frankly I think we’re capable of learning whatever there is for us to learn without being subjected to massive shaming. We have our own consciences (I hope) which will start tugging at our sleeves the moment our tempers go down. We have the ability to self-correct and watch ourselves next time.

Amalayer-level scream fest

What about the people who seemingly don’t, you ask? Well, if it was but an AMALAYER-level scream fest, I don’t see how the world shouldn’t be able to go on if you don’t take it to social media. As for the cases that need to be reported, here’s a genius idea: take it to the authorities! Or whoever’s job it is to be dealing with the said person and situation. God, why didn’t we think of this before? Going the YouTube/Facebook route is so many steps longer!

As a Pinay myself, I completely get the tug of our chismosa senses. Not only do we want to know, we want to participate in the sharing process as well. The more scandalous, the better. I will not deny that I utterly enjoyed watching Christopher Lao’s “I should have been informed” YouTube clip when it first came out. I think I even shared it. But once the laughter died down and I was done subconsciously patting myself on the back for being a “better person,” I realized the permanent, public branding that had been done on Lao, and the downpour of vicious comments. And it wasn’t even because he was a bad person (FYI, he’s speaking at TEDxKatipunanAve today), but because he had a few minutes of mortifying behavior under high stress caught on camera. We later found out that this was a guy who was rushing to his three-year-old daughter in the middle of a storm. He should have been level-headed and aware of his mistakes in the situation? Try niyo muna, and then get back to me. But by then the damage had already been done, and the back story wasn’t keeping pace with his viral video. In that light, the entertainment suddenly wasn’t worth it.

These outbursts of douchery are disturbing, true. But you know what’s even creepier? The people who eagerly whip out their cellphone cameras and excitedly upload for the world to see, knowing fully well what’s going to happen to the person they just captured on video — knowing the power the Internet has to ruin people and slap them back for their deeds a hundred thousand fold. If you think you’re being the better person with your hand raised in documentation, it’s best to stop deluding yourself because, actually, you’re being malice personified. Public outbursts at least usually come with provocation, whether immediate or built up over time. You’re being cruel and mean just because you feel like it. You think it’s fun to publicly shame this person and ruin his/her reputation so oh well, right? You think this is a good clip to spread along, never mind that you’re speeding up the viral process, so click. And the golden heart award goes to…

A little empathy and self-awareness (e.g. “I can be a crappy person, too”) will go a long way.

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