Stigmatizing Labels：不要讓網路成為汙名化的樂土｜OPINION

Don't Let Internet Become Soil for

Stigmatizing Others

On May 9， a video has attracted a lot of attention on the Internet。 A woman was beaten up on the street in Xi’an， but she didn’t call the police。

5月9日，西安街頭有一名女子被毆打，但她沒有報警。

The car in the video was BMW （Bavarian Motor Work）， some netizens thought that this woman was a material girl and attacked her personally。

因為影片中的車是寶馬，一些網友認為這名女子是個拜金女，並對她進行了人身攻擊。

On the evening of May 11， the beaten woman Meimei said in an interview： “I am not a material girl。 This BMW is my own car。 I didn’t call the police because he kept threatening to kill me。”

5月11日晚，被打女子梅梅在接受採訪時說：“我不是拜金女，這輛寶馬是我自己的車。我沒有在5月9日報警是因為他一直威脅要殺我。”

The emergence of internet has made it easier than ever for people to express personal opinions。 Many events have been paid attention to due to the intervention of internet public opinion， but it has also brought hidden dangers。

網際網路的出現給民眾表達意見提供了前所未有的便捷。由於網路輿論的介入，許多事件備受關注，但也因此帶來了隱患。

Obviously， stigmatizing others online is one of them。

顯然，汙名化他人就是其中之一。

The man beat his girlfriend on the street in Xi‘an

Source / Weibo

Comments of netizens after the event reversed

Source / Weibo

Norbert Elias， a famous German sociologist， devoted his whole life to the study of “human science”。 He pointed out that“stigmatization” is the process by which one group imposes and sustains the inferiority of human nature on another。 In this process， one of the most common strategies adopted by the strong and non-stigmatized party is “labeling”。

德國著名社會學家諾伯特埃利亞斯一生致力於“人類科學”的研究。他指出，“汙名化”即一個群體將人性的低劣強加在另一個群體之上並加以維持的過程。在這個過程中，處於強勢且不具汙名的一方最常採用的一種策略即“貼標籤”。

The tags almost revolved around everyone。 Usually， the inherent labels for women are money worshipper， street killer， etc。

標籤幾乎圍繞著每個人。通常，女性固有的標籤是拜金、馬路殺手等。

According to The Paper （an all-media news and information platform based on original news in China）， a No。 22 bus in Wanzhou， Chongqing， crashed into the river after colliding with a red car。 The owner of the red car was female， so most people subconsciously thought that accident was caused by negligence of the female driver。 She suffered a lot of abuse on the internet until the truth came out。

據澎湃新聞（中國以原創新聞為主的全媒體新聞資訊平臺）報道，重慶萬州一輛22路公交車與一輛紅色轎車相撞後墜入河中。這輛紅色轎車的車主是女性，所以大多數人下意識地認為這起事故是女司機疏忽大意造成的。在真相大白之前，她遭受了網路上很多的譴責。

One of the top ten Internet rumors in 2018 summarized by Weibo is about female drivers。

Source / Weibo

On top of that， there are some else labels about country， religion， class， wealth， color， sexual orientation and so on。

除此之外，還有一些對於國家、宗教、階級、財富、膚色、性取向等的標籤。

So， what’s the harm of labeling and discriminating against specific groups？

那麼，給特定群體貼標籤有什麼害處呢？

First of all， stigmatizing labels can create stereotype about a group。 In the field of internet public opinion， netizens tend to label some specific groups， mainly including officials， rich people， stars， doctors， police and so on。 Once labeled， some netizens will come to a conclusion directly regardless of the facts， and thus show a tendency of network violence。

首先，汙名化標籤會造成對一個群體的刻板印象。在網路輿論領域，網民傾向於給一些特定群體貼上標籤，主要包括官員、富人、明星、醫生、警察等。一旦貼上標籤，一些網民就會不顧事實直接得出結論，從而呈現出網路暴力的傾向。

Secondly， the discriminated groups will solidify in their labels and lose their development potential。

其次，受歧視的群體會被他們身上的標籤上所固化，失去發展潛力。

For example， LGBT groups （LGBT is the acronym for lesbians， gays， bisexuals and transgenders）。 According to the “Being LGBT in Asia” China Country Report， workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is ubiquitous in China and is not prohibited by any laws and regulations。

例如，LGBT群體（LGBT是女同性戀、男同性戀、雙性戀和跨性別者的縮寫）。根據《亞洲同志專案》中國國別報告，基於性取向和性別認同的職場歧視在中國隨處可見，沒有任何法律法規禁止。

As a result， LGBT individuals， especially transgenders， suffer from discrimination in the workplace or are difficult to preserve their jobs。 Many LGBT individuals choose not to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity。 In this case， LGBT groups are not able to maximize their value。

因此，LGBT群體特別是跨性別者，在工作場會遭受歧視或難以保住工作。許多同性戀雙性戀者會選擇不公開他們的性取向或性別認同。在這種情況下，LGBT群體無法實現自身價值的最大化。

Thirdly， under the network environment， the group polarization effect， spreading false information and blindly following the trend in the communication are very obvious， and it is easy to form the majority violence。

第三，在網路環境下，群體極化效應、傳播虛假資訊和盲目跟風的傳播趨勢十分明顯，非常容易形成多數人暴力。

Friedrich August Hayek， an economist and political philosopher， won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974。 He pointed out that there is no reason to think that most decision-making has a higher super personal wisdom， and most people are likely to lead to the emergence of tyranny。 This phenomenon is very common in the public opinion communication on social media。 The extreme expression of most netizens does not fully reach the rational attitude of discussion， but forms the ubiquitous violent discourse。

經濟學家、政治哲學家弗里德里希·奧古斯特·哈耶克於1974年獲得諾貝爾經濟學獎。他指出，沒有理由認為大多數決策者都有更高的超個人智慧，而且大多數人都有可能導致暴政的出現。這種現象在社交媒體的輿論傳播中非常普遍。大多數網民的極端表達並沒有完全達到理性的討論態度，而是形成了無處不在的暴力話語。

The decentralization of theinternet era has led to the dispersion of discourse power， and has also spawned various social risks。 From the perspective of the people， we need to cultivate netizens’ rational and critical thinking。 From the perspective of the media， media practitioners need to have good professional quality。 Medias should actively undertake social responsibility and guide network public opinion。

網路時代的去中心化導致了話語權的分散，也催生了各種社會風險。從人民群眾的角度出發，我們需要培養網民的理性思維和批判性思維。從媒體的角度來看，媒體從業者需要具備良好的職業素養，媒體要積極承擔社會責任，引導網路輿論。

By | Qi Xueyang

Type Setting | Xing Fengyi

Proofreader |Zhou Ting

News Media Director | Xing Fengyi

You might also want to read

▼