Trial by Social Media

Recently there was a big fracas on the confrontation between a lady passenger and a Go Jek driver which was uploaded first to Facebook and subsequently shared thousands of times and has since gone viral.

I want to add my 2 cents worth to it, as I feel that the rise of social media and the use of built in cameras and video phones has levelled the playing field of 'he says, she says' but also can be used as evidence if the confrontation , misdemeanor, or simply misunderstanding of the situation can be viewed by perfect strangers and then there will be a 'trial by social media'. 

Why this phenomenon has arisen is that while confrontations, minunderstandings and incidents happen everyday, the 'drama' which unfolds can be worthy of prime time television and people will stop, waste their precious time and cast judgement, and comment on who was right, wrong or plain stupid.

The incident between the Go Jek driver and the lady passenger clearly shows the ignorance of people taking ride sharing apps (the lady in this instance). From what I understand, she wanted to go to town and was ignorant of the fact that she the passenger had to pay the ERP or electronic road pricing upon entering into the Central Business District. Her defence, she had taken other routes driven by other drivers which did not encounter or enter the ERP gantries.

The driver politely asked her to show him the route which she had been taking, but she insisted that he should know and from then on the situation spiralled out of hand. She insisted that he had taken her 'hostage' and called a friend to try to speak to the driver.

The other lady friend was just as clueless and the driver then upped the ante by saying that if she was this unreasonable, and was claiming that he had taken her 'hostage' then he had better drive her to the nearest police station at Toa Payoh to settle the matter amicably.

The sense of entitlement or the attitude of the lady (obviously Singaporean) was really unbecoming. She appeared very patronising. Everyone is working hard and we try to be as amiable to all people we meet and when the driver indicated to her that he did not know other routes, she should then (in hindsight) asked to stop the car, and cancel her ride there and then.

It ended when the driver drove near Toa Payoh Police station and the lady asked for help from the police officer. He asked to hear both their stories and the Go Jek driver with his video on appeared to be telling the who truth from start to end. When she did not hear the response she was expecting to get, she then attempted to get out of the car whereby the door's autolock came on.

The video ended when she finally managed to get out but the policeman was sympathetic to the driver and rightfully so. Unreasonable passengers who cry 'wolf' are unfortunately a by-product of the 'me first' generation of today. They refuse to see anybody else's point of view except their own. 

No sense of give and take at all.