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With phones, netizens hunt for misbehaved
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THE video capability of cell phones coupled with the popularity of social media often take some of the worst aspects of daily life and blow them all out of proportion.
That was the case recently when the cell-phone video of a middle-aged woman shouting abuse at a young woman on Hangzhou Metro Line 2 and accusing her of being a prostitute went viral on social media.
The video on the Tencent platform quickly gathered angry feedback from nearly 10,000 netizens, most of whom said they were shocked by the woman’s rudeness.
The young woman who was insulted on video gave her own video account of the incident on her Weibo account. She said her accuser boarded at the Qianjiang Road Station and was on the phone all the way to the Xiaoshan District, apparently registering a loud complaint with a customer service agent.
At the time, the Metro train was quite empty, allowing the woman’s loud voice and rude language to permeate the car and make other passengers uneasy. When the girl suggested she lower her voice and stop disturbing others, the woman became hysterical.
“If my phone call causing discomfort, I will accept responsibility,” the woman yelled at her. “Tell me if you were hurt by it.”
“I’m losing my hearing, and you are really ruining every other passenger’s mood,” the girl replied.
“Go to a hospital and let a doctor verify that you are hurt, and call the police,” the women screamed. “If they don’t come, you are a whore!”
Eventually, Metro security appeared and asked the woman to calm down, but that didn’t stop her. She continued to accuse the girl of being a prostitute.
On social media, netizens slammed the behavior as uncivilized.
“I hate people who speak loudly in public spaces,” said a netizen who goes by the online name Hakkens. “The metro should expel these people after they have been warned.”
The girl herself didn’t escape criticism. Some netizens wondered why she had uploaded the video to the Internet, suggesting she was just looking for public attention.
These sorts of incidents are becoming more common and can often lead to online witch-hunts. Early last month, the video of a woman eating preserved spicy chicken’s feet and spitting the bones on floor of a Shanghai Metro train also caused a sensation online.
Internet users quickly identified the woman as a violin teacher at a music school in Shanghai. They also found footage of her appearance on a dating show in 2012.
Media outlets, including China Central Television (CCTV), interviewed the woman, who said she had done nothing wrong and did not believe her behavior affected others.
Many netizens suspected the incident just a viral marketing stunt since the teacher reportedly increased her fees for violin lessons since the incident.
Netizens are having trouble separating fact from fiction in uploaded videos often filmed with cell phones.
“People should stand up when faced with uncivilized behavior,” said an Internet user who goes by the name Doumimi. “Remember the incident of the girl who was shouting about alleged collusion at a Beijing hospital? When we have the courage to expose problems, society will improve.”
The incident in the reference occurred late last month, when a young woman was seen complaining vociferously at Beijing Guang’anmen Hospital. She alleged hospital security guards were allowing scalpers to jump the queue for appointments. She said a scalper tried to charge her 4,500 yuan (US$684) for an appointment that should have cost 300 yuan.
In a country where an estimated 1.3 billion people have cell phones, recordings of provocative or unsocial behavior and events frequently make their way online. Some cause a nationwide stir, forcing government authorities to intervene.
Some of the videos cause cyberspace witch-hunts that exposed private information about people and often force them into hiding to escape public humiliation. In some cases, controversial videos have been revealed as the handiwork of advertising companies.
“The cell phone can become a weapon in the hands of ordinary people,” said a netizen called Kedou. “We can take use it to expose injustice and imprudence, but we should also be aware of it being used by people with ulterior motives.”
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