When popular Taiwanese online personalities Chen Neng-chuan (陳能釧), who runs the paranormal channel “Good Night Chicks” (晚安小雞), and his companion Lu Tsu-hsien (魯祖顯), also known as “a-Now” (阿鬧), posted a faked kidnapping video online that was filmed in Cambodia, the Cambodian government was furious.
The two were arrested in short order and quickly sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for their shenanigans. In addition, the authorities wanted to make an example of the severity of this case and the two are to serve the full duration of their sentences before they are released and deported.
In the past decade or so, academics and research specialists from around the world have conducted studies and surveys on the development of social media, the Internet and smartphones. They have discovered that people who love messaging on their phones, as well as users who are addicted to the Internet, are often much more likely to be entertainment junkies.
They were also found to be much more shallow in their morals and ethics, lacking the wisdom to reflect on their actions.
This is similar to what Nicholas Carr wrote in his bestseller The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, the topic of which is self-evident in the title. The work dives into how information on the Internet is both quick and lacking in deep substance.
Using the Internet does not require the use of much brain power or spending a lot of time to digest or organize information. When people become accustomed to this way of thinking, they chip away at their cognitive and self-reflective capabilities.
For example, in Taiwan there are two camps of Internet users in firm opposition to one another that stay tightly tied to their positions when it comes to any sort of topic, and sometimes they are rabid about their position to the point of coming to blows with or filing a lawsuit against the other party. This is when behavior on the Internet gets out of hand.
When looking at the example of the Taiwanese in Cambodia, it is obvious that the two are addicted to the online world as well as the volume of feedback from their fans, leading them to be so enraptured by their online popularity that they would contravene their own morals and ethics as well as laws. They fell to their knees and acknowledged their wrongdoing to Cambodian authorities and officials in full view of everyone.
Obviously, they were not thinking critically and they lack basic morals. Even more embarrassing is that while Lu was giving his apology to the Cambodian authorities, from out of nowhere, he said he “hoped that Cambodia could give him the chance to send out a message to our followers to show how gracious your country has been toward us.”
If we put this in rhetorical terms, his response is akin to the second half of the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) idiom hoo-sin ti ling-ging khak (A fly wearing a longan shell) khiam thau khiam bin (lacks a brain and face), referring to someone who lacks the wit to understand when they are blindly facing a precarious situation. Put simply, these two are “so dumb they cannot even scratch their own itch.”
People with a good head on their shoulders might use the Internet to learn something, find or create work projects, or build wealth and happiness, thus contributing to society and reducing distractions.
A person’s choice to do something or to follow blindly is a simple matter of thought.
Fang Fu-chuan is an international trader.
Translated by Tim Smith
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