It seems no weeks go by without some talk of the cyber town, the latest being a video in which TV host Acharanat "Nott" Ariyaritwikol went berserk on a motorcyclist over an alleged hit-and-run on his Mini Cooper. He <i>grabbed</i> and dragged the rider by his windbreaker, punched him in the face and told him to graab, or prostrate at, his car. An onlooker shouted at Nott to stop the attack and Nott's friend replied that the driver hit his friend's car and tried to run away as if that justified it. The video was just awful and may cause you to lose faith in humanity a little. I also dread what would happen had Nott driven a Lamborghini.
However, there's another alarming aspect to this incident, namely the seemingly twisted sense of justice some have shown online. Besides the barrage of verbal smack-downs and name-calling in the comments section of every news story on this incident, some have gone overboard in making their contempt known.
There have been many funny memes inspired by this incident as well as some rather malicious ones. One calls for banning him from ever working in show biz. Another accuses him of being the first to incite hatred in Thai society during this mourning period for the late King. Many commented that there's no place for a person like him in Thai society. Overreacting much?
Many insulted his mum's parenting skills on his Instagram account. One particularly cruel person wished for her death. Pardon my French but WTF?
This frenzy of online justice isn't an isolated incident. In the wake of many scandals, equipped with keyboards and self-righteousness, many jump to punish the perceived wrongdoers and other things related to them.
Remember the incident where a first-year student was almost drowned during an initiation activity at his university? Many left insults, pictures of faeces and down-rated his faculty's Facebook page to one. Harvard University's Facebook had been bombarded with down-voting because they had hired a Thai dentist who did not pay back her scholarship loan. Can you guess what happened to the restaurant which Nott co-owns? It got 1.1 star on Facebook with 7.9k users giving it one star and, of course, many people left even more insults for him in their "reviews".
They may think his business is collateral damage but have they ever thought about the staff whose livelihoods depend on the reputation of the establishment. What about Nott's mum who has nothing to do with the crime her grown-up son committed?
Nott was clearly in the wrong here and handled this situation badly too but it's disturbing for me to see that many people seemingly derive joy from punishing him online, as if they themselves are champions for morality or something. What he did was horrible but what some of us did in response wasn't that pretty either.
Nott was sacked from his two jobs. An award for supposedly being a good Thai citizen which he got was recalled. Further legal predicaments await him. It's likely no one will hire him or want to be associated with him for many months to come. He's going to pay big time. Let karma and the law run their courses now.
Sure, you can offer your opinion or a takeaway lesson over an incident like this online. And I've seen some people that have offered a constructive outlook into this situation, while wording such pieces of advice respectfully too. Just please don't let the anger take over and cause you to unleash vile verbal assaults or go the extra kilometre to destroy someone.
Because then you're becoming a bully yourself.