Inspiring Hate

Haters Anonymous...

"Hi, my name is ____ and I'm a hater. Its been 1 day, 6 hours and 27 minutes since I last 'hated' someone and flamed them online."

A self-help group like that should exist, what with all the 'hate' thats been spewed since the beginning of this season of Singapore Idol. This post was (un)'inspired' by what was, imo, seriously unnecesarily mean and unfounded 'hate' towards Airi. If you've been to his fanpage, under Discussions, you'll see a thread entitled '91.3DJ is backlashing Sezairi'.

Under the misguided notion that she is 'doing this to fight for the sake of justice' and for 'Tabitha and Sylvia' who have been 'denied a chance at a singing career' because of the mad fangirls who voted Airi to win. How deluded is this person?

Very, if she thinks Airi's win is solely due to mad fangirls.

However, she's not a raging lunatic, because she still has the presence of mind to anticipate 'enemy' moves ....

"I think this is the best way for us to protest instead of spreading hate all over the forums which might spark anger from Sezairi fans or even the public at our immaturity."

Sylvia's single isn't played because its not hers to claim. The winner's song is exactly that, the song that will belong to the winner when he or she is crowned. 'Touched By An Angel' is now Sezairi's song since he won Idol. Sylvia's version of it may or may not be released, but it certainly isn't a right, nor should it be a point of contention for fans. If it does get released, its a bonus for all.

On Tuesday afternoon when I started following up on the thread and posting tweets about it, I got a message from said fan, no names are mentioned here. She randomly messaged me to say that she had apologised for calling Jannah a b*tch, (poor Jannah, suddenly kena out of nowhere, all she was doing was supporting her friend Airi). I was intrigued, and surprised that she knew I had discovered this 'thread'. Someone had just tweeted to me that this person should be exposed and shamed and I had replied in agreement (minus the shaming, thats not necessary).

That message was followed by another claiming that the post was never put up by her and was someone posing as her. Strange, considering she had just admitted to content from said post about Jannah. Anyway, her point to me was that after all thats said and done, she feels bad at the end of the day for posting such things and wanted to clear the air, and apologise to Sezairi. I suggested she make a public apology on the thread - just checked, 6am, Wednesday *IDOL DAY*, no apology yet.

This isn't the first time this fan has posted 'emo/rally' type mini-speeches on facebook. Her previous call-to-action was for people to stop watching Idol to 'show producers' that 'voting Tabby out' was their loss.

1. Please understand peeps, Idol's format is positive, there is no voting OUT, there is only voting THROUGH. Unlike some talent show formats, you don't do the terribly negative Survivor-esque thing and vote someone OUT of the show. You vote to keep your favourites going.

2. This is really gettin' old.

Airi's winning does not deprive anyone of a music career. Tabby and Sylvia are so strong, I believe they can get deals on their own merit. There is no need to discredit anyone for someone else to succeed. There's enough room on the local music scene for Airi, Tabby and Sylvia.

To this one hater in particular, I hope you'll learn to spread more love than hate in future. Do bear in mind the readership of the people online who are reading your post - possibly young, impressionable people. I'm sure most are savvy enough to look beyond the emo, but what about those who don't? Act responsibly, posts like these inspire unnecessary hate and negativity towards a REAL person with REAL feelings. Think about how you would feel if someone launched a hate campaign against you when they don't even know you personally (I take all this back if you know Airi personally and you really think he's as bad as you say .... didn't think so).

I want to believe what Airi said at the finale, that 'there is more love than hate'. But when I see this kinda stuff all over fanpages, forums, twitter, blog comments, its really a stretch, and this coming from a person who's normally quite glass-half-full.

As for Airi and his fanpage admin, their stand is to 'ignore the hate, focus on the votes'.

xoxo, s.