Sharon Cuneta Twitter Hater Attack : What Went Wrong and How It Could Have Been Avoided
The legendary Megastar of Philippine show business, Miss Sharon Cuneta, is currently experiencing a vile and vicious attack orchestrated by her haters in the popular social networking and short messaging site, Twitter.
While we can't pinpoint the exact date when this recent Twitter hate fiasco started, it appears that most of the derogatory messages were tweeted by bashers between March 16 and March 21, 2012 or during the height of the buzz created by an interview given by Sharon's aunt Ms. Helen Gamboa to a major broadsheet and Sharon's series of controversial tweets mentioning the word, "Bakla."
As of writing, the Megastar continues to receive a slew of hate tweets - some even attacking her eldest daughter - while fake accounts, most popular of which being @sharon_cunetal2, churn out messages taunting her and the Sharonians.
A friend in need, a friend indeed
Seeing that their idol is starting to be affected by all the tweets aimed at dirtying up her name or bringing out the worst in her, loyal Sharonians on Twitter have likewise started using their accounts to show their love and support for the one and only Megastar.
Last night, in ABS-CBN's late night news program Bandila, Sharon Cuneta's dear friend, the young superstar Ms. Judy Anne Santos, gave an interview defending her 'ate' (Filipino word for 'older sister') for standing up for herself and her family in the face of foul and demeaning online attacks.
What went wrong and how it could have been avoided
If there's anything that anyone should keep in mind when opening a Twitter account, it is that the website is being governed by the mob. This means that as soon as your account gets activated, you should prepare yourself to be immersed in an environment where everyone can freely express their opinion about you (almost to your face), haters and fans alike, regardless of who you are. As such, in many ways, Twitter - I believe - is a place where stars can be stripped of their glitter and glory and where ordinary people who can make the most out of this mob setting can shine.
So what went wrong in this particular case? First off, I want to say that I've been sort of 'monitoring' the development of this 'brouhaha' since the 16th and I must commend the Megastar for doing the best she can to ignore all of those early hate tweets. The problem I think is that this issue reached a point where there's just too much hate; too many vile messages being directed to one person or one family; that Miss Sharon just couldn't help but respond to those tweets in defense of herself and sadly, it didn't help the issue.
From my observation, as soon the Megastar started to reply to some of the hate tweets, even more hate followed. Her responses became like strong winds that made the wildfire grow even wider instead of being the water to douse it. I guess the old saying is true, hate indeed begets hate.
As someone who likewise has to deal with haters almost everyday - albeit on a smaller scale - I really think that she should have simply continued ignoring the filth and focused on what's good on the site. Or maybe, she should have simply deactivated her account and saved herself the pain of reading such crass notes. After all, when ignored by the people to whom they are directed to, online hate usually dies a quick, natural death.
As for the haters, I just wanna ask, "What the hell is wrong with you? What satisfaction do you get from making others feel bad? Everyone's fighting a battle so let's be kind to one another."
Well, anyway. I'm not particularly good at quoting exact verses of the bible - which is something I know some of you excel in - but I do remember that line from the book that we'll do well to keep in mind always - online or in the real world, "Do unto others what you would have others do unto you."
While we can't pinpoint the exact date when this recent Twitter hate fiasco started, it appears that most of the derogatory messages were tweeted by bashers between March 16 and March 21, 2012 or during the height of the buzz created by an interview given by Sharon's aunt Ms. Helen Gamboa to a major broadsheet and Sharon's series of controversial tweets mentioning the word, "Bakla."
As of writing, the Megastar continues to receive a slew of hate tweets - some even attacking her eldest daughter - while fake accounts, most popular of which being @sharon_cunetal2, churn out messages taunting her and the Sharonians.
A friend in need, a friend indeed
Seeing that their idol is starting to be affected by all the tweets aimed at dirtying up her name or bringing out the worst in her, loyal Sharonians on Twitter have likewise started using their accounts to show their love and support for the one and only Megastar.
Last night, in ABS-CBN's late night news program Bandila, Sharon Cuneta's dear friend, the young superstar Ms. Judy Anne Santos, gave an interview defending her 'ate' (Filipino word for 'older sister') for standing up for herself and her family in the face of foul and demeaning online attacks.
What went wrong and how it could have been avoided
If there's anything that anyone should keep in mind when opening a Twitter account, it is that the website is being governed by the mob. This means that as soon as your account gets activated, you should prepare yourself to be immersed in an environment where everyone can freely express their opinion about you (almost to your face), haters and fans alike, regardless of who you are. As such, in many ways, Twitter - I believe - is a place where stars can be stripped of their glitter and glory and where ordinary people who can make the most out of this mob setting can shine.
So what went wrong in this particular case? First off, I want to say that I've been sort of 'monitoring' the development of this 'brouhaha' since the 16th and I must commend the Megastar for doing the best she can to ignore all of those early hate tweets. The problem I think is that this issue reached a point where there's just too much hate; too many vile messages being directed to one person or one family; that Miss Sharon just couldn't help but respond to those tweets in defense of herself and sadly, it didn't help the issue.
From my observation, as soon the Megastar started to reply to some of the hate tweets, even more hate followed. Her responses became like strong winds that made the wildfire grow even wider instead of being the water to douse it. I guess the old saying is true, hate indeed begets hate.
As someone who likewise has to deal with haters almost everyday - albeit on a smaller scale - I really think that she should have simply continued ignoring the filth and focused on what's good on the site. Or maybe, she should have simply deactivated her account and saved herself the pain of reading such crass notes. After all, when ignored by the people to whom they are directed to, online hate usually dies a quick, natural death.
As for the haters, I just wanna ask, "What the hell is wrong with you? What satisfaction do you get from making others feel bad? Everyone's fighting a battle so let's be kind to one another."
Well, anyway. I'm not particularly good at quoting exact verses of the bible - which is something I know some of you excel in - but I do remember that line from the book that we'll do well to keep in mind always - online or in the real world, "Do unto others what you would have others do unto you."
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