Three weeks ago, our city was turned upside-down by an unprecedented act of terror. While we can never predict when and where malicious motives will boil over into violence, there is such a thing as the right way to respond to a difficult situation.
Since common sense is not so common after all (otherwise our Line app wouldn’t have been bursting with inappropriate pictures and fake news in the past weeks), it seems basic guidelines on how to react to a real emergency are needed. But let’s be honest, sometimes useful things such as text-laden airplane safety instructions and hotel emergency plans don’t grab our attention. How do you make useful information stick in your head? You need regular reminders that don’t bore you to tears. Which Guru happens to have, in the form of a playlist.
HOLD ON, WE’RE GOING HOME
(Drake feat. Majid Jordan)
Danger is not your favourite K-pop star. If you hear there is an incident or a suspicious item that has been found somewhere, the correct reaction is not to get excited and run towards it. Nor is it to try to snap photos and tell all your friends about it on Facebook, for that you-heard-it-here-first pride. And must we really tell you, it’s not a good time to attempt an on-the-scene selfie while it’s still dangerous? Stay out of the way and let the authorities do what they have (and you haven’t!) been trained for. Go home and hear about it on the news with your family. You can selfie that, using #imsafewithmyfamily.
CALL DA POLICE
(Akon feat. Busta Rhymes)
Here’s a scenario. You see something dodgy happening, and after careful consideration, decide it’s potentially harmful to society. Where should you turn? No, not Instagram -- the police.
We know you know 191 is the number to call. You also know how to Google Map the location of the nearest police station, or simply get in a taxi and say pai sor nor. But did you ever stop to think that, because it’s 2015, there should be an app for reporting incidences? There is. Police I Lert U is a mobile app developed by award-winning Arunsawad Dot Com, which lets you report crimes or suspicious activities in real-time. This best thing about the app is that you can upload photographs and easily specify a location using GPS technology. You can also call or chat with officials through the app. It’s a one-stop mobile police station.
WHO SAYS
(Selena Gomez & The Scene)
At times like these, many of us feel the need to become reporters to our friends and family. Why? Because we assume that they don’t follow step two as religiously as we do. But if you’re going to take up the post of community informant when crisis strikes, provide the kind of information you require of journalists any other day. You don’t need to be a journalism graduate to be a good reporter. Before you hit that “share” button on a Facebook post or forward a lengthy Line text to your contacts, three words: Verify. Your. Source.
Here’s a little test you can keep handy for when you’re practicing amatuer journalism:
Tip: When you learn about a potential incident, check reliable websites to see if it has also been reported there. It’s not very likely that random people will know about a major incident that is unknown to journalists nationwide. Upon receiving an image, run it through a Google Image search to make sure it’s not from an irrelevant incident.
DON’T LIE
(Black Eyed Peas)
In continuation with our ethics lesson about spreading information, don’t make stuff up. You will be caught and imprisoned. Don’t add panicky emoticons to the info you’ve received in order to turn the drama up a notch before forwarding it to other panicky friends. Don’t play Sherlock and analyse things out of thin air, because you’re not a CSI: BKK character. Just don’t do it, OK? Promise?
Falsifying or flavouring information at a time when safety depends heavily on verifiable information is just darn-right senseless. There’s opinion, there’s fact and there’s plain nonsense. You may think the most you’ll be doing is helping people be more careful. Oh, how do we even begin to thank you. Do you want a prize or something?
HEARTLESS
(Kayne West)
How soon can we get insensitive, like, say, reenact the terrible incident at ground zero, using an actor dressed like the suspect responsible for the loss of so many lives? It is always too soon for something like that. Interviewing the relatives of those who have lost their lives on the day it happened? That’s also beyond too soon, and zooming in on their tear-streaked faces is plain disrespectful. Using the incident to boost sales of your product -- lucky stones, fortune telling, amulets -- is equally heartless. Just. Don’t.
WE CAN’T STOP
(Miley Cyrus)
Mourning. Fear. Naturally, we can’t stop a crisis from changing or affecting us. But we can’t stop living, either. No country, not even the superpowers who have the best intelligence in existence, are immune to tragedy. If there is anything the recent incident has shown us, it’s how helpful Thai people are. We are not only the Land of Smiles, but we’re also the land of generosity and compassion. So what if we are divisive over trivial things every now and then? At times like this, we’re united like pa thong ko. We instinctively root for one another to survive. Let’s not let each other down.
