Cancelling each other

JUST over a week ago, I wrote a piece that elicited quite a few passionate responses.

In particular, one Whatsapp from someone I knew really jumped out at me.

I suppose it is easiest to quote it verbatim: “Nathaniel Tan,see for your self what a duplicitous ketaunan Melayu morons supportive treacherous Rat that you are, Humkar Chan to rabid dog like you.”

As I sadly cannot replicate the Whatsapp emojis that followed this here, I shall have to describe them to you: pirate crossbones skulls, normal skull, lizard, frog, snake, and two mask drama symbol. A delightfully unique combination that I had not had the pleasure of receiving before.

I was a little more amused than hurt I suppose, all things considered.

If you knew the person, it’d be reasonable to guess (I really don’t know for sure) that he is not fluent in Cantonese. So I do not know whether he is aware that saying “humkar chan” is basically wishing for the other person’s whole family to die.

I think it’s not so unreasonable to say that nothing I wrote would merit anyone wishing death on my whole family – or anyone else’s family for that matter.

I don’t really mind the accusations that I am some sort of duplicitous, treacherous, rabid dog-rat hybrid who supports racial supremacists. I mean, that sort of thing just comes with being a writer I guess. But what does my family have to do with anything?

All in all, it’s no big deal, sticks and stones and all that. I must note that others who disagreed with the piece did so with a great deal of tact and respect, which I appreciated.

Overall, the incident did get me thinking about trends regarding how we talk to one another in Malaysia.

Malaysia and Malaysians are unlikely to ever be “immune” from the influence of global trends, especially among English speakers. A lot of us are understandably tuned to trends in the west. One such trend nowadays is “cancel culture”. This generally refers to things like “calling out” people who have said or done objectionable things, and “cancelling” them by shaming and deriding them publicly.

There is absolutely no doubt that some people truly deserve this. One prominent case is that of Harvey Weinstein, whose controversy and the #MeToo movement that followed could be said among the key initial flashpoints in the trend of calling public figures out.

Such expressions of public outrage are absolutely vital and necessary in exposing people in power and positions of privilege that have for too long been protected by their status from any repercussions for the hurt that they caused other people.

At the same time, some feel that cancel culture has taken on a life of its own, and the norms of expressing outrage and attacking people publicly have extended to the point where it has become a little less clear whether everyone who gets “cancelled” deserves as much as they got.

It sometimes feels like some individuals and groups (mobs?) have become very practised in their expressions of outrage and angry public takedowns. A term I used in the aforementioned piece was ‘self-righteous anger’.

Sometimes, this kind of anger reminds me a little bit of Chekov’s gun (a dramatic principle that basically states: if a gun appears in a story, it must be fired).

Some people are very measured in who they decide to criticise; others put me in the mind of a gun that is constantly loaded, just waiting to go off at whatever vaguely resembles a target.

In a few instances, I have found people in activist circles – people whose big picture goals are usually more similar than different – also turning on one another in this fashion.

I suppose historically it is not uncommon for people with similar ideologies to fight more viciously amongst themselves than against people with rather different ideologies (anyone remember Monty Python’s People’s Front of Judea?).

But this viciousness seems to have upped a notch in recent times. People tear each other apart on Twitter, expose various screencaps of text messages, and in some cases, wish death and destruction on each other’s families.

Sometimes, people deserve such fates (though no one deserves the latter); but in my experience, cases are not clear cut 100% of the time.

Harvey Weinstein was an example of a pretty clear cut case. There have been various similar cases in Malaysia as well, and it is always a good thing when justice is served. But there have also been cases that were slightly more ambiguous (some feel that Al Franken’s case was one such example).

I suppose the basic point is: in the court of public opinion, there is no due process. To an extent, there is only “mob justice”.

This doesn’t mean the mob always gets it wrong. It just means that like all human beings, they probably don’t always get it right. Even proper legal courts are fallible, what more courts of public opinion.

The other thing I notice about cancel culture is that it seems to herald an era of holding people to what sometimes feels like impossible standards.

I agree that all of us should be accountable for our actions. At the same time, I feel that if we relentlessly tear down those who make mistakes, and those who are trywing to do better, then we are creating a context where sooner or later everyone will become a villain – or worse yet, enemies with one another (for those who prefer a biblical turn of phrase, I suppose the relevant one is: let he who is without sin cast the first stone).

There’s no shortage of people snapping at each other in Malaysian politics, which provides yet another perfect example of supposed allies being constantly at each other’s throats.

Disagreements and arguments can be healthy, but many people in politics really take it up a few notches when it comes to levels of viciousness. The Johor state elections may be a good opportunity to see what has changed, and what has remained the same.

I must confess with some shame that I have been on both sides of the trolling fence before. I too have been guilty of some form of hatemongering or another in various degrees in my time.

As I age though, I realise more and more that those habits do not really help with nation-building.

I’m not so delusional as to think I will transform or placate any angry mobs with these few words.

But maybe there are some of us in the middle that might take more notice of these trends, and make a more conscious effort not to let ourselves be too consumed by anger, and the tendency to try and tear each other down all the time.

There’s a lot that we can and should be angry about, but I hope to always remember that there are different ways to channel that anger – and that some are more productive and constructive than others.

Nathaniel Tan works with Projek #BangsaMalaysia. Twitter: @NatAsasi, Email: [e-mail]. #BangsaMalaysia #NextGenDemocracy.