My professional interest in the social web and social media tends to focus mostly on the possibilities that the medium offers to businesses, universities, non-profits, government agencies, and so on. Most of that deals with positive potential: In the business world, it touches on improving consumer relations, attracting new customers, improving loyalty, yada yada yada. In the communications world, the focus shifts to facilitating education, protecting reputations, avoiding and managing crises, etc. And from a social standpoint, building communities, enhancing collaboration, and political action tend to top off the list.
Wherever I go and whatever project I work on, the most negative aspect of social media I usually ever have to deal with is a bad product review, angry customers, or public outrage over an incident (as with the BP oil spill) or unpopular policy (as with Nestle and its palm oil supply chain). But this weekend, I was introduced to a different kind of negativity on the social web, one that steps beyond the boundaries of consumer indignation and political discord. One that, although unprompted by contemporary injury or injustice, incited people to give voice to a shared xenophobic grievance.
After having spent weeks digging deep into the amazing impact that the social web has had in giving common, often disenfranchised people the power to unite in ways they never could before, impact their own elections, topple dictators, and finally give their voice a long overdue breath of life, running into the complete opposite this weekend felt like someone had just sucker-punched me in the gut.
On Saturday, I started noticing tweets and Facebook updates like these (screenshots):
One collage of Facebook comments in particular found its way to the twitternets. Click here to see it. Patrice Leroux also shared this link (see comments).
#PearlHarbor may have even briefly become a trending topic on Twitter on Saturday (although the notoriously misspelled #PearlHarbour might have beaten it to the punch, which is telling in and of itself). This only hours after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan and left hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent people dead.
Typically, I much prefer to focus on all the ways that social media can make the world a better place. For instance, Japan’s early earthquake and tsunami warning system sends texts to citizens’ phones, which is a pretty simple but clever use of SMS technology. That is a great story. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google helped people in the disaster-struck area let their loved ones know they were all right, and continue to help folks outside of the affected areas locate their missing loved ones. Again, brilliant. Critical real-time information was and is shared via mobile devices and social platforms to help save lives. Google’s Crisis Response project is another example of what can be done with the web to help save lives and rebuild affected areas. Stories like this rock my world. But the CNNs and BBCs of the world are already doing a fine job of covering that angle. What isn’t being touched on a whole lot is the flip side of that coin. The ugly side. So I want to touch on it for a couple of minutes because it too is important.
This little blip of shame deserves its own little moment in the spotlight, if only to remind us that in spite of the wonderful technology we enjoy today, humanity isn’t yet quite as evolved as we would like to think it is. A connection to the internet doesn’t necessarily make someone smarter. Having hundreds of “friends” on Facebook doesn’t necessarily make us more social or human. This #PearlHarbor hashtag incident is a subtle, yet important reminder of what always lurks beneath the surface of human interactions. It may be a mere blip on our collective radar, sure, but a blip on the radar can sometimes turn into something more. Something bigger and uglier and more ominous.
Here’s what’s important to keep in mind: 100% of the social web’s potential is tied to human potential. That potential can be fueled by innovation, altruism, progress, collaboration, and even kindness. It can also be fueled by little more than narcissism, idleness, ego and self-gratification. And sadly, it can be fueled equally by xenophobia, cynicism, hatred, indifference and even cruelty. Tools and platforms like Twitter, blogs and Facebook are blank canvases. We decide what we paint there. The “content” we produce for the social web is a reflection of the world we want to build for ourselves and others. We can build something worthwhile, or we can build something ugly and destructive. We can build something self-serving and predatory, or we can build something beneficial to all. We can use social media to facilitate and promote progress or hinder and weaken it. Through the use of social platforms, we can be a force for good, or a force for cruelty and hatred. The potential for both is exactly the same. We decide, both collectively and individually, where things go.
On a more positive note, the #pearlharbor hastag on twitter quickly rallied thousands upon thousands of outraged social web denizens who reacted with shock and disgust to the horrible racist statements which gave rise to this post. That’s a very good sign.
Moving on…
Here are a few ways you can help already start to help Japan today:
Google Crisis Response – Japan
BelongingsFinder.org (Thanks, Eric)
And lastly, this beautiful effort by signalnoise.com:
If you have more links to share, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Cheers.
Suggested/Additional reading:
Victoria Pynchon for Forbes (Thanks to Jill Elswick for the find)
My heart sank reading all the negativity. I had no idea there are people who could be so insensitive and so inhuman about the devastating news Japan is going through right now. And to use Social Media to display such ignorance? {SMH} I agree with you that Social Media is there for us as a blank canvas to do whatever we want, positive or negative. I choose to paint a pretty picture and leave a good and respectful legacy. It’s a shame that some people have to be so hateful and full of vengeance. Life is too short. Keep writing Olivier! You’re a wonderful inspiration.
I both knew it and pretended I didn’t – if that makes any sense. Their comments and the hashtags kind of cured me of that denial mechanism, I think.
Horrible, isn’t it? It blows my mind that people not only feel that way (that is bad enough) but feel so self righteous about it that they would share those feelings online that way. I can’t wrap my mind around it.
I’m still shaking my head….. 😦
How true Olivier. I have been incandescent with anger at the vile comments left on Twitter and Facebook. I too think that this side of it is a very important story in it’s own right.
I feel so sorry for those Americans who are getting a bad name at the moment because of these insensitive remarks, but in my opinion, it is also their responsibility to make sure their compatriots receive a proper education. Something they generally lack at the moment.
There’s a lot of xenophobia and racism going on in the US right now. A particular subset of the population can’t deal with the fact that they have a black President, much less a brilliant, well spoken, worldly one.
Because it isn’t popular to attack a black president on the color of his skin, they have instead opted to attack him on his “suspiciously Muslim-sounding” name, on his father’s nationality, on his international upbringing, and on all of the batshit conspiracies this engendered. They range from his being a secret Muslim in league with Islamist terrorists to being a secret socialist revolutionary in league with the Black Panther movement and the Weather Underground.
The degree to which conservative radio and other pseudo-political groups have stirred up hatred against Muslims, Mexicans, Africans, homosexuals, liberals, trade unions, Jews, the French and whomever else happens to present a potential “threat” to the American way of life gets punched in the face.
I was VERY surprised to see this extend to Japan, but in retrospect, I should have seen it coming. Hatred of this type isn’t logical. It isn’t supposed to make sense. It’s racial scapegoating. It’s bizarre and sick and it makes no sense to rational people.
Incidentally, these are the same people who want to get rid of the department of education, which is kind of ironic.
Stupidity and hatred are just tragic. It has to suck to be so full of anger. I feel bad for them.
Cheers, man.
Oliver, how right you are. Here is an analogy to consider: when a severe stroke victim has a CAT-scan or MRI, it is my understanding the disabled part of the brain appears as black. These hate-mongering people (whose hate usually walks hand in hand with a perverse genre of Christian religiosity I might add) remind me of those blackened areas of a stroke victim’s brain scan.
There is a huge swath of the American population who are mentally and emotionally incapable of rational thought, compassion, empathy, or seemingly any of the higher level emotions of humanity. They seem to be living inside their ‘fight or flight’ brain stem, also known as the “reptilian brain.”
I don’t know how America can survive long term, much less thrive, with such a huge swath of the population whose brains are so hideously impaired.
Thank you for calling attention to these goons. Yes, GOONS.
Sam, your “they seem to be living inside their ‘fight or flight’ brain stem” observation is giving me something to think about. I hadn’t really thought of it that way before. I think you’re on to something.
I liked the CAT scan analogy as well.
Thanks for the comment.
Hey there –
Pretty sure I didn’t hear about the Japanesse talking about Katrina as payback for Hiroshima & Nagasaki. I know the button I’d be clicking if I saw that on my feed walls. *unfriend*
When I was younger I saw this all the time on imageboards and saw this type of behavior protected by the idea of being anonymous. It’s just interesting that people who have a varity of friends can think they can put these types of ideas out there and not expect to have a backlash of individuals who think critically.
It is different, yes. Today, they aren’t anonymous anymore. Yet they still feel justified enough to post stuff like this in the open.
Hey Olivier, have you seen this video yet? It’s getting a lot of negative press.
Good for you Olivier for putting this out here. It is so sad that we still have such ugliness within the human spirit, including the growing issue of bullying.
Another way to help those affected by natural disasters including the one in Japan is via UNICEF https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=9661&9661.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=lh0ccaba11.app227a
Bless you,
Thanks, Ann.
Thanks Olivier.
More public ugliness here compiled in the Village Voice Blogs (post by Rosie Gray).
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/03/facebook_imbeci.php
Patrice
Merci, Patrice.
It saddens me that human beings have this side to them. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise. I mean Jersey Shore is a top rated show, Snooki has a best selling book, and Charlie Sheen’s name is everywhere.
I fear for us as a society when I see where our attention is spent.
I can hardly see how Pearl Harbor is anywhere near relevant to a tsunami. I don’t care if it happened in Japan, Singapore, or anywhere else. It is a human crisis, not just a geographical one.
I have no idea where this Pearl Harbor thing even came from. Like you (and most people), the connection between WWII and this disaster is inexistent.
My guess: It started somewhere and got repeated, then tweeted, and it continued to spread across certain social circles. But there was an “asshole-zero” who started that daisy-chain of shame. It would be interesting to see who it was.
Wait… people are actually buying Snooki’s book?
I appreciate this post so much Olivier. In our excitement about the myriad positive aspects of the Internet and social media we can forget that human nature can have its ugly, cruel and hateful aspects, which are only highlighted by these tools.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who display and share ignorance and hatred and as more and more learn to use social media to express themselves, we will be forced to witness their self expression (for lack of a better term). But, we can respond and we can offer alternative opinions and push back.
I think your post is important in doing exactly that.
Thanks. I hope so.
Oliver
You have completely and utterly captured the venomous hate that lies within some people. I am stunned that people acted in such a manner. I, living on the west coast, sat in horror watching the live coverage and the tsunami hitting Sendai. The people on the top of the airport towers, the people washed away on the ground, it was terrifying. How dare anyone say karma. What is the matter with people today?
The insensitivity and ignorance that has been exhibited shows that how far some are from any type of equality in this world and their lack of consideration for human life.
I guess the people of CA who lost their boats in Crescent City deserved it too as they are wealthy enough to have a boat?
Thank you for writing this.
These are the same people who probably look at every disaster – from tornadoes to hurricanes and floods – as divine retribution for someone else’s sins.
I heard a woman on the radio this morning explain her theory about how this is all God’s wrath against homosexuality and porn, for example. So in other words, we should already blame “the gays” for Katrina and earthquakes and tornadoes?
The scapegoating these people engage in on a daily basis – blaming all of their woes (most of which are actually not even their woes in the first place) on everyone but them – is astounding. It goes beyond the abdication of personal responsibility. It’s a systematic indictment of the entire human race outside of the cloister of their own narrow-minded “faith,” which makes them the special little anointed children of God while the rest of the world is made up of sinful lost souls whose actions bring incessant punishment from above.
No wonder they’re terrified and angry all the time. It’s a lot of stress, carrying that kind of fear and resentment around with you all the time.
And yeah, it is completely batshit. But there you have it.
You would think that in 2011, in what is arguably one of the most technologically and socially advanced country in the world, people wouldn’t still see the world through a medieval lens, but this proves we still have a ways to go.
Cheers, Suzanne.
Stumbled upon your article via a link on my friend’s Facebook wall. I’m actually not surprised there are such insensitive people around, but I’m surprised that they’re not Chinese.
I’m not saying that the bombing of Pearl Harbour is not a big deal, but by comparing that to the massacre in Nanking, it is a much smaller deal.
If we follow history, we’ll know that China and Japan has been “traditional rivals” since WWII when Japan killed many Chinese. I’m actually surprised that I’ve not heard any insensitive comments from the Chinese, but from the Americans.
Even my relatives who grew up during the WWII times didn’t even give any of such comments…
Anyhow, thanks for putting up this artcle!
Maybe something similar is happening in parts of China. I don’t know.
Oops sorry for the mispell! I’m from Singapore and learnt British English =X
“Here’s what’s important to keep in mind: 100% of the social web’s potential is tied to *human* potential.”
Well said.
Yep. Where we take it isn’t a given.
I used to think that the ego-tripping self-aggrandizing aspects of the social web were the worst of it, but I was wrong.
Cheers.
There will always be a percentage of the population who find their own justification and entertainment in the misery and misfortune of others. I believe the consequences of those actions should go far FAR beyond the “unfriend” button. Those posting how “karma is a bitch” shouldn’t be surprised at the round-about nature of it coming back to bite themselves in the arse.
PS: I spell harbour, honour, neighbour and colour. I know it’s a ‘Proper name’ and not subject to the international flavours.. But.. notorius? 🙂
Disappointed to see this happening, I have often observed this kind of behavior here in Pakistan and India too on social media and News media.
Remember the murder of Governor of Punjab in the name of blasphemy law, there were more than 100 Facebook pages were created to support the murderers.
We may make all the tool to make this world a better place, but it is up to the people how do they use it. To make a positive impact or to spread hate.
I also agree that one negative comment breeds another… and another.. It all was started from SOMEWHERE. Then people do add and repeat it.
Also noticed same reaction when Floods in Pakistan was a main story all over the world.
Thank you Olivier for bringing this side in discussion too. Cheers
Yep. That kind of behavior is… shocking and deplorable. I don’t understand it.
Olivier,
I was a mentor at this weekend’s Startup Weekend Cambridge (http://cambridge.startupweekend.org/) and one of the ideas developed was a service that helps reunite people with items of sentimental value lost during the tsunami: http://www.belongingsfinder.org/
While obviously not as critical as Google’s Person Finder, a nice idea nonetheless.
It won the Social Enterprise Prize.
Eric
Thanks, man. I’ll add it to the list.
This was the food for thought for today – thought this was appropriate for this discussion…
“Nothing is given to man on earth – struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible – the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.” – Andrew Bernstein
Schadenfreude is, unfortunatelly a very common human feeling. Ad to that old rivalries and ignorance, and comments like the ones you mentioned are bound to be published (either on SM or on other form of media). Similar to comments made on the aftermath of 9/11 on how the US “deserved” the punishement for its policies regarding other coutries and cultures.
All in all, although it’s a good thing to point out the ugly side, once again Social Media proves it can be used to achieve great and wonderful things, and that the majority of those who used it do so in ways that can help fellow human beings.
I like to believe that we, human beings, are capable and willing to make good things not only for us, but also, and mainly, to help those who are in need. And that Social Media is, and will be a major force in achieving it. Even though, sometimes it can be used to show and promote a uglier picture of mankind.
Yep. Thanks, Bruno.
Olivier,
Great post, great points. I actually saw a few of these nasty Tweets come through my stream, and was sickened by them. Thank you for calling these people out and putting them on notice that their hatred and animosity is unacceptable to the vast majority of people.
From a practical perspective, what do you recommend we do? Do we argue, ignore or block these people? My first instinct is to block, but can we ever really change ignorance without engagement and exposure to more enlightened viewpoints?
Thanks,
Jenifer @jenajean
I don’t know.
Ignoring them isn’t the answer. The more aware people are about this sort of thing, the better. It isn’t something that will go away on its own, and it shouldn’t be left to fester either.
Once awareness isn’t an issue anymore, it boils down to personal choice. You can blow it off, you can argue with them, you can try to talk some sense into them, you can cut them off, you can do any number of things. Whatever suits your personality.
Here is what I do with folks like this:
If I don’t know them, they aren’t really my problem. Whether I block them or unfollow them or not is kind of irrelevant. They aren’t part of my little world.
But if I do know them, it’s a different ball game.
Remember a few months ago, the big story about the Islamic cultural center that was going to be built in NYC, several blocks from Ground Zero? A lot of people got caught up in some pretty deplorable notions:
1. That Muslims living in NYC should be held accountable for the actions of terrorists, simply because they shared the same faith. (Which is a lot like blaming every Christian in the world for terrorist attacks perpetrated by the IRA.)
2. That while families of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish victims of the 9-11 attacks could worship near the site where their loved ones died, the families of Muslim victims would be prohibited from doing so. They would have to go worship 20 blocks away.
3. Freedom of Religion applied to some but not others, which is, at the very least, a very slippery slope that we can’t allow ourselves, as a nation, as a culture, to even remotely consider.
The anti-Muslim rhetoric at the time really bothered me. People have a right to be angry and scared, but the notion that because the 9-11 terrorists were Muslim, every Muslim should bear the burden of their horrible crime was just ludicrous.
I saw some pretty awful comments being made by people I know about Muslims and what “we” should do with them and to them. At first, I engaged those people who, until then, had been my friends. After a few days, when it became clear that they had made the decision to be racist assholes, I unfriended and unfollowed them. The unfriending extended to the real world as well.
Several of them reached out to me and tried to talk their way back, but as unfortunate as it may seem, I just cannot be friends with someone who believes that an ethnicity or faith makes someone less human than they are, or less worthy of having their most basic rights protected by the constitution.
The way I feel about it is pretty simple: There is no more possibility of friendship between me and a racist or antisemite than there is of a friendship with a neo-nazi, a child molester or a rapist.
If anyone I know comes to me with “those Japs deserve what they got,” they are dead to me. It’s that simple.
But that’s just me. 😉
Thanks for helping me think this through a bit more, Olivier. I struggle with how or even if I should respond to these types of comments. Seems disingenuous to let such remarks stand, but at the same time, I’m not sure confrontation would help the situation either.
I guess I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt at least once, and just ignore them unless they’re addressing their comments directly to me. But if I see a pattern of abusive or intolerant remarks, I will unfollow or unfriend them. Kind of my own personal “three strikes and you’re out” rule, only it could be two or ten, just depends on when I’ve had enough. 😉
Jenifer
I’m disgusted by these comments as both a person of faith, and a former military spouse who lived on a U.S. installation in Japan for three years. My son was born near Tokyo.
Even if you could find some way to rationalize the xenophobia, you’d have to deliberately ignore the fact that there are thousands of American citizens–military members and their families–living in Japan right now.
I’m disgusted, but not surprised. The comments make no more sense in light of the tenets of my faith than they do in light of the reality of thousands of American citizens in danger right alongside the Japanese.
It’s a product of fear, and perfect love casts out fear.
Fear, it seems, casts out reason.
That it does. Thanks for the comment, Kat.
Heartbreaking to see how selfish creatures humans have become.
Olivier,
I’m kinda commenting late, but hopefully you’ll see this. I think that short-form messaging tools like Twitter, coupled with the ease of hiding behind an avatar amidst thousands of people shouting for attention, has revealed what society has become/shifted to: we are blunt. And if we possess hatred or prejudices, that makes what we say all the more hurtful and noticeable. But the nice thing about this is that hateful tweets such as the ones you mentioned will NOT go unnoticed. Thankfully, I think we’ll always have people fighting for what’s right and coming alongside each other to defend.
This was great! Always appreciate posts like these.
Tim
@timotis