(Note: The post was first drafted in 2021 and have since been updated.)
In the age of social media and the privilege of having anonymity, it seems that the callout culture has been increasingly vicious and detrimental.
Calling out on someone is not new and something that we all do in real time. If someone does something wrong, a person will tell them about it, and the someone learns from it and avoid doing the same thing in future. Easy.
But it is actually difficult to have these crucial conversations in real life. That may also be a factor to why so many call-outs happen online instead. But how do you decide on this fine line between humour and disrespect?
The question lingered on my mind back then because I was reading Harris Bin Potter, a Malayified parody version of you guessed it, Harry Potter. The characters were given alternative names, which included Professor Airbus Dinosaur, aka Pakcik Dollah, PH.D, and magical professors as SEMEN.
In the same period, angry fans (who are not even affiliated with the matter at hand) called out Janna Nick when it was revealed in an Instagram post that an attention-seeking antagonist in the TV film, Delen, was named Lisa Blackpig. It got me thinking.
A simple online search of the book only showed positive reviews and was #1 on The Straits Times Bestsellers list and shortlisted for Singapore Book Awards 2020 (Best Literary Work).
On the other hand, the producer who decided on the name Lisa Blackpig was called out by mobs of fans on various social media platforms that she had to deactivate her accounts temporarily. I doubt those fans actually read the synopsis or found out more about the film.
Both were a tribute to the various characters and were all tongue-in-cheek. So, why was the reception different?
I also recalled another similar incident, when ShiggaShay was called out (by international folks, once again) for having a name that was misappropriating black culture during the peak of Black Lives Matter movement. He had to make a statement to defend himself and shared what his name actually meant, as it was based on Chinese.
If you are into Kpop, singer BIBI, had a debut album with a song titles ‘Nabi’. In Korean, nabi means butterfly, but in Malay, it refers to our respected prophets. (So, I actually never listened to that particular song because I felt uncomfortable.)
In conclusion, people are too quick to jump to conclusions without fully investigating the story and understanding the context. Who are we to judge someone we don’t know personally too? That is truly the thing that irks me with callout culture.
Here are some things to remind myself before joining:
- Be calm and stay logical
- Understand the context of the issue first
- What are my values based on vs the values of the other person
- Religious teachings do put an emphasis on not airing someone’s dirty laundry
- Attack the issue, not the person
- Be respectful, we are all humans after all
- Can the call-out be done by someone familiar know, and not by strangers?
Calling out is important and requires courage and bravery in speaking up for the truth, but I truly hope people are a little bit nicer in the way we deal with things.
Uminsummer 