Social media was invented to bring people closer together without having to feel the constraints of distance. Yet, it has since become a breeding ground for toxicity.
Kembara Kitchen and Santapan REMs co-founder, William Cheah, took to his Facebook page to call out this toxicity after a netizen had made a racial comment on one of his videos, in which a new staff member was promoting a new product.
He wrote, “Social media can get so toxic. Even a simple thing like a reel introducing our latest product, just gulai and acar, can escalate into something racial.”
“I sometimes wonder though, about the mentality of such people. Do they have too much time on their hands or did they not receive enough love? (They are) attention seekers who like to hide behind locked profiles. What’s that saying again? Baling batu, sembunyi tangan? (Throwing stones but hiding their hands?)”
As of the time of writing, his Facebook post has garnered over 1,600 reactions and 1,100 comments.
If you have nothing nice to say, perhaps don’t say anything at all
In the reel mentioned, William’s new staff member, Amirah, was introducing Santapan REMs’ new gulai and acar when one netizen left a comment asking, “Is this a Chinese product? Even this girl’s script is like a Chinese person speaking Malay.”
This image is for illustration purposes only.
William went on to explain that such comments have become a common occurrence, but he will not let it affect the multiracial enterprise that he has built.
“But oh well, as I mentioned to Amirah when she just joined us, expect such incidences. In a multiracial company like ours, we will face such incidences from all sorts of angles. And we cannot please everyone. While we strive for harmony and cooperation, there will be those who will try to derail our efforts. We just need to keep at it,” he added.
Let’s all strive to be better people, especially when interacting with others not just on social media but also in real life.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
