Negatrons 1

Negatrons: How to Deal With Online Bashers and HatersEmlyn S. PonceUniversity of the Philippines

Negatrons 2AbstractThis research was made to realize the two sides of online bashing, the subject and the commenter. Surveys were handed to my friends and acquaintances who are mostly students. Negatrons, a term I picked up from a magazine pertaining to people who gives out negative vibes. They usually attack as a mob, taking advantage the anonymity in the world wide web, who has nothing good to say and speaks like they dont have flaws and imperfections. The survey has two parts, the first one asking them about being a hater, a basher, and what makes them rant online, and the latter is the opposite, examining their experiences about being bashed. In this survey, I found out that among our age level, we dont do confrontations or post negative messages directly to you. We post it indirectly, targeting and not naming the subject thus, making the person paranoid and guilty. Also in this research, Ive read a few articles giving tips how to get rid of the haters.

Negatrons 3Negatrons: How to Deal With Online Bashers and HatersToday, because of globalization, internet access is a necessity. It has a major role for communicating with people concerned with our work, and personal and social life. We get access to lots of news and information regarding the politics, the countrys economy, the crime rate of our community, the lives of the celebrities that we idolize, and of course, the personal issues within not only in our vicinity, but the world as well. Anyone can post whatever they like on the internet, particularly in Facebook and Twitter, and of course even though you can moderate the people who can see your posts, its hard to be aware if any of those people dislikes or is not enjoying seeing your posts. We really cant help getting annoyed or irritated even to our closest friends or family. But what if they exposed their hatred to you online, where his/her and your connections are? Studies show that a persons cyber life affects his/her emotional and social health. What do we do at times like this? How does it change our lives and how do we get our old and peaceful lives back? Well, the Philippine government proposed the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, the offenses included illegal access to the computer itself and its data without any right or permission, hacking the computer network, misuse of the devices, like theft and selling, computer-related forgery and identity theft, cyber-squatting, cyber sex and child pornography, and libel. But because of anonymity of being an internet user, it becomes hard to the government who among its million netizens are violating the law, especially those who will be charged with libel. It didnt help the case of cyberbullying, not even threaten the online bashers and haters. One of the laws supporters is Paula Jamie Salvosa, known to the public as the Amalayer girl who was caught on video on November 2012 Negatrons 4for scolding a security at an LRT station. She had not only caught the attention of cyberworld but also the real world who even delivered that event in their respective news program. She was trending worldwide and at the same time, the negative and harsh comments about her, by not only the netizens, but also from celebrities, grew so fast. Another supporter is Senator Vicente Tito Sotto III. He was also trending for his plagiarized speech, and it did not only earn him tons of bashers. That event also gave birth to a new word in the urban dictionary, Sottocopy, which means to plagiarize. If our locals, celebrities or common, gained tons of attention and revulsion in the cyberworld, make double or triple for international personalities. One of the most talked about was Miley Cyruss twerking performance in the MTV Video Music Awards. She gained lots of reactions, and now she even has a meme on Facebook. If the goal of that performance was mainly publicity, well I say she really nailed it! But the winning candidate of the 2014 Miss America Nina Davuluri seems to be hated by the Americans for being an Indian origin. According to news.national.com, a website powered by Canada.com, there have been racist tweets to Davuluri, saying that Miss America is now a terrorist. Back to our own country and our very own university, the news about the UP Diliman student who plagiarized photos is not only degrading himself, but the university as well. Some of the netizens are generalizing the population of UP to be like him. Something like that happened in the year 2008, a year before I enter UP, where the Iskos and Iskas were bashing the students from the College of Music on Multiply (I cant find the page now because Multiply has shut down), saying that were elitists, that were not doing and contributing anything to the society, and that we have our own world separated from our fellow Iskolars. Dr. Jonas Baes, a faculty from the College of Music who defended the college did not escape the bashing and offensive comments of the students.Negatrons 5All of those people experienced disrespect, inequality, and shame in the cyberworld. But what is there to do when your name is always the talk of the people, your face was always seen on silly pictures quoted with offensive jokes, and your identity is degraded by people who really dont know you? Most of us stay silent, hoping it will end soon and people will just forget about what happened, which is true. Another story would go into the spotlight and your story will be buried. But just like buried items, you cannot say that it didnt exist or had a part in your life. You can still find it there once you dig it. Some people reply to the issue thrown at them, and in my point of view, I classify them into four kinds: the apologetic reply, the defensive reply, the counter-attack, and the classy reply. The first one is just simply apologizing, as the name implies, to the misdeeds that the person made, hoping to have the sympathy of the people, which sometimes works. The defensive reply is where you explain yourself hoping that it will clear the issue, only few people do this for most of us believe that we dont have the obligation to explain ourselves to anyone. The third one, the counter-attack, is like throwing back another hate message or what others usually do, trolling. It is like a trend online to be sarcastic when fighting back from negativities, because what usually happens here is that the basher is the first to get pissed. And the last one, the classy reply, usually posted by celebrities or elitists when they want to tell everyone that theyre ignoring the bashers and that they wont stoop down to their level. It sounds do nice though behind those sweet words we all know that its a message implying the bashers to stop making a fuss.In our society, where people are still struggling for their daily lives, we tend to be more competitive and brushing off the rivals who are in our way. And as we carry this attitude, little by little our insecurities grew that we didnt realize that were beginning to love to hate, as quoted in the Negatrons 6Cosmo magazine that I have read. Were beginning to satisfy ourselves through the misery of others so that we would gain confidence and self-esteem. But as the victim of these haters, we should not feel down, but on the opposite, we should rise above the hatred thrown at us and use it as our advantage, as our strength.ReferencesBarts, A., Ehrlich, B., (2011). How to Respond to Online Haters. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/06/01/digital.haters.netiquette/index.htmlCastillo, S., Chu, K., (2013). Cosmopolitan January 2013 issue, Perfect Ka, Teh? Online trolls vs. you? How to DealFriedman, A., (2013). The Disapproval Matrix. Retrieved from http://annfriedman.com/post/49152967734/in-my-ongoing-quest-for-the-perfect-framework-forGil, P., Who Are Haters?. Retrieved from http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/h/f/who-are-haters.htmParry, W., (2013). Miss America Nina Davuluri says shell rise above hate-filled, racist Twitter comments. Retrieved from http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/16/miss-america-nina-davuluri-says-shell-rise-above-hate-filled-racist-twitter-comments/University of the Philippines College of Music, (2009). Open Letter to Ms. Nessa Abad. Retrieved from http://peyups.livejournal.com/611420.htmlZandt, D,. (2013). Haters Gonna Hate: How to Make Sure Your Online Conversations are Productive. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/deannazandt/2013/04/29/haters-gonna-hate-how-to-make-sure-your-online-conversations-are-productive/