The power of microblogs could be chilling
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It is widely hoped that microblogs can help the country move forward by facilitating public participation in major issues. The more attention an issue receives from the public, the more likely it is to be resolved.
But there are reasons to question whether this power is always positive. Many recent examples suggest that unproven facts that feed public curiosity or psychological mood may easily come to dominate microblog discussions.
"My dad is Li Gang!" was surely among the most popular online sentences last year. Li Qiming, a 21-year-old college student reportedly yelled this after he ran over two people last October. Li Gang, his father, is a district deputy police chief of Baoding City, Hebei Province.
This sentence soon went viral and became a classic symbol of arrogance of officials in powerful positions. More inside information was later dug up and disseminated, such as Li's family assets and positions held by other family members, even though many of the information are dubious. The issue grew into a condemnation of the privileged.
It was not until this Monday that Hebei Legal Daily published a front-page article questioning the authenticity of the now-notorious sentence. In that version of the story, Li Qiming only uttered his father's name as identification after being detained.
It is difficult to receive a truly objective coverage from any single source. Whether the report of Hebei Legal Daily is fully true also remains questionable. It always helps to gain as much insight as possible from reports of diversified origins.
What is chilling about Li's case is the selective ignorance from the media and netizens of the other facts. A vague rumor evolved into a "fact" and became ever more powerful as long as it catered to the public mood. Many onlookers chose to believe it simply because there are indeed officials who trample on social justice.
Microblogs now have the tendency to promote certain voices over others. Some wrong ones may be corrected later but often only after the damage has been wrought.
After the devastating earthquake hit Japan on March 11, the microblogs at first overwhelmingly saluted Japan's response system. Those who dared to challenge this view were silenced with humiliating words.
At stake here is the public measurement of right and wrong. Everybody could one day potentially be among the vulnerable minority. When we are in that position, hopefully there will be some place to have our voice heard.
