Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19.
In the comments section of an online report of the news, a reader said that if Chen were to die of the virus, his body would need to be cremated within 24 hours so that handling of his corpse would conform to his own COVID-19 cremation policy.
When Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) tested positive for the virus last month, a person in the comment section of a separate online news report “congratulated” him for adding to the total number of local cases, and expressed hope that he would be listed among those classified as “severe.”
“Bad mouthing” online seems to be an issue in every political camp.
Edmond Locard — a French criminologist and a pioneer of the forensic sciences who became known as the “Sherlock Holmes of Lyon” — once proposed “Locard’s theory,” also known as the “Locard exchange principle,” which states: “With contact between two items, there will be an exchange of microscopic material.”
In Chinese, it is said that “every step leaves a footprint.”
In the age of the Internet and social media, there are now “digital footprints,” the traces of every online move.
Such traces not only represent what people have done on the Internet, but also construct personalities in the cyberworld.
As the digital and physical worlds become more intertwined, personalities constructed by digital footprints and personalities constructed by the physical world have united.
As a result, the effects of online comments on society have risen.
When people bad-mouth others online, they might think they are being righteous or humorous, but others might find them distasteful enough to block the creator.
Meanwhile, family members and friends might not have the option of cutting such people out of their lives.
A person might be gracious and gentle in the daily course of life, but then forget how to behave as a normal human being while online. Upon seeing how they speak in the digital world, people they interact with in person might avoid them.
However, when it comes to the online antics of politicians, commentators and influencers, sarcastic and unkind words are easy to find. Their words are partially a result of their own personalities, but are mostly due to their “public persona” as they seek political or economic interests.
Their supporters might hold them up as a role model and imitate the behavior.
Unfortunately, such supporters tend to be unaware that the gains are greater than the losses when politicians, commentators and influencers bad-mouth others online. When an ordinary person follows their lead, they risk losing their integrity.
The excitement of bad-mouthing others online is temporary, but bad impressions can be permanent.
What is worse, the digital footprints are likely to persist and continue to deliver consequences long after a comment is made.
Digital footprints show who a person is online, and are increasingly being linked to the ordinary lives of those who leave them.
Therefore, do not bad-mouth people online, whether they are celebrities, politicians or ordinary people. The behavior tends to push people away on social media and in the physical world.
Chang Yueh-han has a doctorate in communications.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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