MBABANE – Social media users have yet again feasted on their newest cyberbullying victims, the Mr Eswatini top 28 finalists.
After the Mr. Eswatini organisers released the top 28 finalists of the pageant, which was later publicised in media publications, social media went on a rampage, putting the finalists down and bashing them over physical features and age. It is worth mentioning that the social media sites where this occurred were Facebook and Twitter. The tweets and comments went from bad to worse. The Twitter users used derogatory words to the finalists which can not be repeated due to its defamatory nature. What was visible from the released pictures of the finalists was that the picture quality was low, and it was something that they couldn’t be faulted on as the pageant runs on a zero budget and is in need of a sponsor, according to the organisers.
A little over a month ago, there was a similar cyberbullying case that blew up on social media.
A local female celebrity in the entertainment space experienced what most people come across on social media; cyberbullying. After a string of Facebook comments that have since been deleted towards the celebrity resulted in her pouring an unidentified substance into her drink, causing her to be hospitalised. This, like what has been endured by the Mr Eswatini finalists, can be classified as cyberbullying, which is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. Mr Eswatini organiser Mbonisi Ngcamphalala, was reached for a comment, where he mentioned how the pageant was hit hard by these nasty comments but they were working on measures to help the finalists put this behind them.
“After the comments from social media, we reached out to places like Men’s Clinic and Kwakha Indvodza for psychological help for our top 28 finalists. With Men’s Clinic, we were made aware that they only helped after the approval of the health department, but they did refer us to other places. Kwaka Indvodza was very persistent in providing aid to these young men because men do keep pain,” said Ngcamphalala. Kwakha Indvodza (meaning ‘Building a Man’) is a local non-profit organisation, that specialises in community-led health and behaviour change interventions with men and boys. In the discussion with the organiser, he further highlighted how he took some time to speak to these young men, assuring them that social media was a toxic place, where people brought others down, but they should keep their heads high, and if they knew why they started, they would not be discouraged by comments by people who don’t have the guts to do what they are doing.
Similarly, the outcomes of cyberbullying perpetration were found to be associated with a variety of problems such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem, aggressive cognition, moral disengagement,and substance abuse. It was also associated with lower academic achievement and life satisfaction. A study conducted at Harward University concluded that Cyberbullying increases suicide attempts by 8.7 percentage points and suicidal thoughts by 15 percentage points. The entertainment sector has seen fatalities from bullying.
Revealed
Legendary South African actor Patrick Shai allegedly committed suicide in the garage at his house in Dobsonville, Soweto. News of his suicide, which sent shock waves through out the continent, was revealed by a family friend, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal. The deep throat said that although the reasons for his suicide are not known at this stage, the backlash the thespian received from social media after challenging rapper Cassper Nyovest to a boxing match was allegedly too much to bear for the veteran actor. Although Shai appeared to be joking about the boxing match, social media, and Twitter troops in particular, descended on him and called him names, forcing him to apologise. Shai was an actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the television series Soul City, Generations, and Zero Tolerance. He is one of the founding members of the Free Filmmakers of South Africa.