Written by: Gayathiri Sivakumar
I have this problem, you see, when I need to make a decision, I just look at the facts and decide something, without giving much thought to what’s not said or included. While I was growing up, my inability to factor in the facts are not included, or the other factors I don’t examine has always caused me problems and led to ineffective decision making. My Ammamma use to always say to me, “velluthathu ellam paal illai,” which roughly means everything you see that is white is not milk. This little phrase has great meaning, it alludes to the fact that looks may be deceiving, and often times, there can be more to something than what it appears to be. We need to also give importance to what isn’t stated, and look beyond the facts, because, often times, what isn’t stated, is more important that what is stated. Why is something excluded? Why is something missing? What is this missing piece? And what impact does it have?
By now, you all probably heard of or read the article in the Toronto Star and the video from Youtube that speaks to the taping of a minor accident involving a Tamil youth, Raguruban Yogarajah on the 401 through someone’s dashboard camera. (For those of you who haven’t the links are provided below). To sum it up, it involves Raguruban being caught in the usual 401 traffic, and got into an accident with the car behind him. Raguruban and the car behind him both move to the side, and talk. But what happens is the car behind him, belonging to Herman Sham has a dashboard camera which has recorded the incident from the vantage point from his car.
Let’s take a look at the situation. The response to this accident has been mixed, but more of it seems to heavily weigh on the idea that this accident was a “scam” set up to make a quick buck. The comments to the uploaded video by Herman have been outwardly racist and threatening [towards Raguruban]. Things are not always what they appear to be, and relying on an edited video, with missing dialogue, does not seem to be a fair tool to assess what happened. The editing is obvious, and the captions are interpretations Herman added, and are obviously going to be from his perspective. Making a quick judgment, and letting out threats or making racists statements based on what you think without knowing is, well, stupid. Individuals have gone really far to disturb daily lives of Raguruban’s family members, and I find this completely disgusting; posting his contact information and making threats is something to be taken seriously. There is no question that his normal life has been disturbed greatly because of it. Some of the comments are so racist, and I feel saddened that such people exist. Without knowing what happened, you should not judge. I mean, put yourself in Raguruban’s shoes for a second, wouldn’t you want a chance to explain yourself?
I guess this whole situation raises an important conversation. And, the big question is, do the unknown mass have the power to decide between right and wrong based on a biased video? This incident could happen to anyone, including you. Someone who did not commit any wrongdoing could also be dragged into misery by a video savvy individual using the power of social media. Do you think YouTube has a social responsibility to ensure privacy protection for individuals who are being explicitly threatened based on a video another user posted? What do you feel?
Click here to read the article from Toronto Star
Click here to watch Youtube Video uploaded by Herman
Tags: Car Accident, Herman Sham, News, Privacy, Raguruban, Social Media, Youtube
