The sudden and severe impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is making Taiwanese experience what the rest of the world has been going through for more than a year.
Unfortunately, it seems that we have not learned anything from the experience that the world has gained at the cost of millions of lives, such as how to prepare mentally and materially.
Malice and panic follow a plague like a shadow. When a plague comes around, social media set the stage for these reactions to act their parts. You try to find useful information in your news feed, but it is buried within lies and gossip.
Eventually, you cannot resist joining in, but you feel no relief from your anxiety and only end up creating even more lies and gossip. Or maybe you simply withdraw and give up looking for information before you drown in a toxic sea. This is what is known as news avoidance.
It is not impossible to break this cycle. I once proposed that everyone on social media has the same opportunity to speak as the news outlets do and must therefore hold their own posts to the same standards as they expect of news media content.
Just as with epidemic prevention, everyone should do whatever they can and not do anything that they know is wrong.
Here is a breakdown of what the media, opinion leaders, experts and the general public should and should not do:
What the media should do is maximize the visibility of practical information about the epidemic. What they should not do is try to generate online traffic by stirring up panic and hostility.
What Internet celebrities, business owners, academics and opinion leaders should do is dispel panic and hostility and contribute to epidemic prevention by exercising their influence in their own fields. What they should not do is play along with rumors, willfully vent their emotions and make their followers more anxious.
What experts should do is offer advice based on their own expertise, whether actively by offering constructive opinions or passively by dispelling rumors. What they should not do is repost material online that they do not understand while asking whether it is true.
As for the general public, just as Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that we should regard everyone around us as if they were infected, people should treat all dubious information, and particularly alluring posts on social media platforms, as content that needs to be verified.
People should not forward or repost these posts without first checking the facts. Do not think that because you are just an ordinary person you should allow yourself to be swept along with the current of information and risk becoming an accomplice in spreading malice and panic.
Last year, the US had the misfortune to face the pandemic under the leadership of then-president Donald Trump, the king of blather, who approached the disaster without regard for scientific evidence.
In the war against the epidemic, there is no lack of empty talk. Only by dispelling fear and hostility mentally, as well as being prepared materially, can disease prevention measures be smoothly implemented.
This cannot be achieved by government coercion. Users of social media platforms must first be self-aware and refrain from reading and reposting toxic gossip.
We must all resist the temptation to join the ranks of panic and hostility.
Chang Yueh-han is a professor at Shih Hsin University.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Many local news media over the past week have reported on Internet personality Holger Chen’s (陳之漢) first visit to China between Tuesday last week and yesterday, as remarks he made during a live stream have sparked wide discussions and strong criticism across the Taiwan Strait. Chen, better known as Kuan Chang (館長), is a former gang member turned fitness celebrity and businessman. He is known for his live streams, which are full of foul-mouthed and hypermasculine commentary. He had previously spoken out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and criticized Taiwanese who “enjoy the freedom in Taiwan, but want China’s money”
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) concludes his fourth visit to China since leaving office, Taiwan finds itself once again trapped in a familiar cycle of political theater. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has criticized Ma’s participation in the Straits Forum as “dancing with Beijing,” while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) defends it as an act of constitutional diplomacy. Both sides miss a crucial point: The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world. The disagreement reduces Taiwan’s
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is visiting China, where he is addressed in a few ways, but never as a former president. On Sunday, he attended the Straits Forum in Xiamen, not as a former president of Taiwan, but as a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman. There, he met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Presumably, Wang at least would have been aware that Ma had once been president, and yet he did not mention that fact, referring to him only as “Mr Ma Ying-jeou.” Perhaps the apparent oversight was not intended to convey a lack of
RSS