Accusations on Facebook

Recently in a closed Facebook group, someone posted a video of someone at a local restaurant hacking something on the ground, which the poster claimed looked like meat. Now, from my angle, and the size of the video, it was pretty difficult to see anything. But that is beside the point. You can imagine what happened once this video hit Facebook. People volunteered to be judge, jury, and executioners.

Racism

Someone made the comment that a lot of local cats were disappearing, and insinuated that this restaurant could be the reason why. Once the Pandora’s box of racism was opened, there was no way to get that box closed again. It devolved from there into name-calling, with people making sweeping generalizations about Asians, about Chinese restaurants, about the health department, and so on. A few people tried to defend the restaurant owners, but the majority had already found them guilty without the business owners even realizing they’d been accused of health code violations, disappearing cats, etc.

Snowballing Rants

The person who shot the video was very proud of the number of views, and even thought they might set it to music to make it more popular. More people were pitching in with thoughts about the owners, why they shouldn’t be in business, and more racist remarks about Asians in general.

No Moderators

I kept watching this train wreck of a post, astonished that the moderators let the post remain despite the racism. No one stepped up. In fact, as far as I know, the post is still up.

Lack of Faith in Humanity

Now being on social media is my job. Most days, I’m enthusiastic about the positive changes that can come about because of social media (see my previous post about how social media is changing us for the better). For instance, animal welfare organizations can have petitions go viral quickly. People can find organ donors online. We can meet other people quite easily, extending our networks for collaboration and friendship. But posts like the one I saw really make me wonder why I’m on Facebook, what I’m doing in that particular group, and whether I moved to the right place, since it was in a local neighborhood group

Does This Ever Happen to You?

As an Asian-American and local business owner, there was something so heartbreaking and disturbing about the lack of compassion, jumping to conclusions, and ignorance, that I can’t even put it completely into words. Have you had an experience that made you wonder, too? I’m sure I can’t be the only one! And thank you for reading.