Monday, September 29, 2014

Is Social Media the Great Equalizer?

i had an experience a few months ago in dr. jose fabella memorial hospital. a man and his pregnant wife came in the out-patient department very well after the cut-off time. as expected, they were told that it was already closing and they should come in earlier next time. it must also be said that we were still going to see his wife despite that. but...

apparently hurt and unwilling to accept this gentle correction, he did not take it too lightly. instead, he came back maybe an hour later neurotic. he was laughing, sweating and smiling as if he was just the most powerful man in the world. he just had this certain look on his face as if he had all the power and influence to destroy us and said, "ipapa-facebook ko kayo! mga bastos kayo! dahil mahirap lang kami, ginaganito niyo na kami! anong klase kayong doktor!!!"

in short he was threatening to take pictures and videos of us in order to "shame" us on facebook for having a cut-off. this is what makes this wrong. he saw social media as a great equalizer among social classes. without a doubt, he saw himself as inferior to the physicians and midwives. but he, too, expected us somehow to bow down to his every need. that was just crazy.

it's not always absolute

okay, and i am not exaggerating. in the midst of this development, t turns out that he was a cellphone technician and he was just beaming with pride how he had a "tita" who worked in the Department of Health. My goodness. wow.  the arrogance.

i'm not even that interested what kind of job his "tita" does have in the DOH because it doesn't matter. but frankly speaking, even the rank and file still do technically "work" in the DOH, right?

what i realized in this is that, we must not always take things at face value. even when it comes to social media.

ethics dictate that the other side should always be given a chance to explain. but had he gone through with his threat, do you think the general "sharing" public would've given us the time? of course, not. they might be too excited to just share the next would-be viral video of again another victimized  member of the masa.


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