Social Media as tool for micro-aggression: A case study in Mizoram

Jenny Lalmuanpuii1

Abstract

With the growing of use of social media, online content created by users have able to
reach public within a minute.It has become an effective tool of communication but it can also
cause conflict among individuals or community if not be careful with sensitizing content that can
cause any harm. For decades the world has witness different kinds of conflicts including racial
conflict and with the emergence of social media Cyber racism which is also a form of racism, has
been practice in different ways whether it is direct or indirect. In this studies, micro-aggression
which is a less direct racial practice have been investigate among the Mizo online Community, in
order to find out the type of micro-aggression that have been commonly practice and the reason
behind it.

*****

Introduction
Social media unlike other traditional media, it is user friendly and user content generated.
It is platform that is refer to as the emergence of web and mobile technologies that provide users
to create and share content within the social networks (Carah & Louw, 2015)Social media such
as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others have allow users to present themselves through the
online profile they created, and maintain connection with other users or even create an online
community.
Cyberspace including social media is often refer to as Digital Utopia by some enthusiast,
believing it to be a place where democracy is exercised without being limited from the
boundaries made by culture, gender, demographic, age, class and nationality. Even though it
does not have a physical location, it is has become an integral part of people’s day to day life. It
is a digital universe where anyone can become a producer and circulator of content but also at
the same time an argument is made that an overload of information take place in cyberspace

1
.Jenny Lalmuanpuii, Ph.D in Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Journalism and Mass
Communication, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, India.
where users have become lost in it (Baker, 2012). Manuel Castel claim that Media itself is not
power but a space for power, so here Social media can be seen as a space where both negative
and positive activity can be practice, where it allows users to have the freedom to self-expressed
and produce content and share with people of the same interest without the barriers of social
construct exist in the society, and also at the same time, with overloading information users
could be less responsive to his reality, and the misuse of creating content can give rise to new
crimes or reinforcing of crime.

Democracy in digital media itself has a long debate, there is a perception that cyberspace
enhances the already existing concepts and practices of democracy, and the other one it will
transform our idea of democracy and draws new aspect from fresh voices. Again there is an
argument that discussions in cyber space cause a progressive change in society and existing
political system and since cyber space is operated a world driven by capitalistic systems, the
internet has a possibility of becoming a place for the capitalists who give most information in
cyberspace dominating it for self-promotion instead of making it a public sphere. Also users can
be communicating among online community of their own interest without communicating
beyond their borders which again will have less interaction of political discussion (Baker, 2012).

Digital native’s participation in Social Media

People who are regularly engage in media are called digital natives (Prensky 2001), and
most of them are youth but not all digital natives are youth. Youth are now living in a society
that have a separate virtual world with a promise of democratic environment that allows more
interaction, expression and producing content they’re interested in. But some have fear that this
digital world will destroy existing literature, social skills of modern culture (Baker, 2012).

With the emergence of new media use, social networking sites and applications help
create a virtual community, which supports the prediction of Marshall McLuhan (1964) on
communication as global village. Even though a background study on the sites and applications
of social media is done, the medium would not be the main focus, so based concepts such as
online identity (Marwick, 2013), Digital culture on democracy, cyber activism, different culture
practices in cyberspace and related to youth and online (Baker, 2012) and oversharing culture
(M.Senft, 2013) and the moral and ethical perspectives on how youth conduct themselves on
online (Flores and James, 2012) would be taken to as a study to understand the present scenario
of racism and social media.

Social Media create a platform for young people to share their creation. Youth might not
have a voice in society that much but the openness of the new digital media provides youth to
participate in social or other issues. Chris Baker on his book Cultural studies, it provides a
discussion on digital media and democracy different culture practices in cyberspace. And culture
such as Micro-celebrity was coined in 2008 (M.Senft, 2013) which broaden to our understanding
about the practice micro-celebrity, the explosion of brand me culture, the oversharing culture and
how social media encourage others to monitor other activities. But at the same time with the
feeling of openness hate speech, disrupting online forums or chats with offensive and other
misconduct taken place on online, can be encourage with lack of face-to-face interaction.

On research done by Ghulam Shabir et.al (2014), on The Impact of Social Media on
Youth: A Case Study of Bahawalpur City, findings show that majority of respondents prefer
Facebook as their favorite social media with Skype coming as second. The main problem face
during use of social media is unwanted messages, and promotion of unethical files among youth,
anti-religious post create issues among different communities. Results also find Negative use of
social media is deteriorating the relationship among the countries.
Social Media and Racism

For decades the world has witness different kinds of conflicts-inter-national regional,
intergroup, and interpersonal-damage people, communities, and the natural world (Opotow et.al
2005 ). Racial conflict is seen in different parts of the world, which often lead to wars, it is a
global issue. Racism can cause harm to any person or community through hate speech, hate-
crime such as murder or racial harassment.

“Cyber racism is most commonly defined as racism which occurs in the cyber world. This
includes racism which occurs on the internet such as racist websites, images, blogs,
videos and online comments as well as racist comments, images or language in text
messages, emails or on social networking sites”
(http://www.racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/cyber-racism/index.html)
 “Cyber racism is a form of racism. Online activities or published material that result in
offensive comments in relation to a persons race, colour or national or ethnic origin,
have the same effect as similar offline activities. Cyber racism may present as racial
hatred or cyber bullying“
(http://www.racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/cyber-racism/index.html)

With the digital age and the over-sharing culture once considered private spaces is now
public, which has serious consequences when it comes to racist behavior. In addition, other
traditional media, new media now serves as a platform for people to access knowledge
and circulate information, but it also have disadvantages as Social media also provided forums
for racist behavior and material.

Some enthusiast expressed that cyber space would led to an escape of racism,
but with it was rather complicated then it was believed to be, as the users are those who are still
living in a place of reality where racial conflicts exist and whatever they believe and stand for
they take it into cyber space. Jessie Daniels (2012) argues that the Internet is not escape route
from racism, but with the change and development of internet, new forms of Internet practices is
expected to emerge which also includes new expressions of race and racism. Whether racism that
already is there is practice in online or new behavior is exercised, cyber race take place in online
with few example below.
Jerry Kang(2000) claimed in his research Cyber-Race that he participates in virtual
communities, where user pick an avatar that is representation of them and interact with other
users. He altered his virtual skin tone into dark skin, one character attack him with racial slur. He
believed that it is necessary to have awareness on cyber race as racial consequences could hunt
anyone later.
Daniel Her born in his article Racial vilification and social media, he claimed that In a
user-generated platform like social media anyone can upload content and published it right away,
which means there is the possibility for people to post offensive material without anyone
thinking whether it is offensive or against the laws. He argues in the case of Memes which is
often thought as harmless and humorous, which is a cultural phenomenon but some are offensive
where memes had a racial element.
 Though digital communication has been praised for providing users an environment that
is color-blind,behavior such as hate speech and other forms of racism still exist in online space. It
is said that racism is not as direct as before, but it still have an effect on the recipient, Micro-
aggression according to the Oxford English Dictionary is “A statement, action, or incident
regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a
marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minorities”insert footnote for OED is commonly
practiced in digital space and is often treated as lesser form of racism With micro
aggressions users can easily walk away from what they create in the virtual world to their reality,
and they don’t have to accept responsibility for how their actions impact others.

When Internet service was provided and cyber cafés started opening, internet was used
for mostly email and chatting. Before 1995 internet service was provide to individuals or
households with the availability cyber café have also rise as a business by the year 2000. In
“Media-in Mizo Khawtlang a nghawng dan” Lalfakzuala (2008) wrote about the impact of media
in Mizo society, he has given an insight on the history of internet in Mizoram, the use and abuse
of social community including sex, relationship and crime. Exploring various literatures, survey
and interview the author discusses about the increased rate of sex crimes, mobile usage on oral
sex, viral photo and video among youth and the rise of call girls. The author has suggested
Christian ethics and Media ethics for educating any users among media whether traditional or
social.

In this study, the researcher will make an attempt to investigate social media as a new
platform of racial vilification in Mizoram adopting qualitative as research methodology, and case
study to gather necessary data.

In this study we attempt to explore in Mizo online community, that aims to the study and
discover any type of event that can be describe as Micro-aggression. And more specifically, the
types of micro-aggression that are most common and in order to find out two questions thatare
developed below.

1. Does Micro-aggression exist among Mizo in Social media? How do usersrespond to to

micro-aggression?
 2. What is the reason behind Micro-aggression and what are the issues it can caused?
Method

Qualitative is adopt for the research study, and case study is used to collect the necessary
data to give an explanatory data on the above questions. Three events were chosen for case
study, one is hate speech of inter-racial marriage in social media, another one is a viral message
of Chakma are attacking Mizo and the last one is James Hmar Defaming Non-Locals and
ZarkawtCommunity

Case Study 1 : Chakma attacking Mizo

On the month of July, 2016 three Mizo men brutally attack two men outside Hotel
Regency in Chanmari, Aizawl. These three men were Immanuel Lalbiakngheta (22) s/o
F.Rokhuma, Chawngtlai, Lalngurmuana (28) s/o F.Rokhuma, Chawngtlai and Laldinpuia (23)
s/o J.Rinmawia, Kawrtethawveng. After the arrest of theses me, It was found out that they were
highly intoxicated, and this attack was not personal vendetta but simple intoxication that went
wrong.
But a message was spread viral through facebook and whatsapp, without cross-checking
the whole situation. It was posted said that the Chakma’s were attacking Mizo, and that angry
mob tried to ramp the Chakma, people started asking question about the whole situation in Mizo
Online Community such as Save Mizoram, Special Report and Mizo Special Report and through
whatsapp.
This attack was turned into a ethnic issues through the lies posted and disseminated in
social media, while some users wanted to cross-checked, others had already made up their mind
and posted hatred and threat comments to the Chakma tribe.
Behind the screens, it seemed easier for the users to give an opinion on the situation, with
different opinions and comments such as religious evaluation, moral evaluation, asking more
facts, questioning the authority and the government were there and sympathy were shown to the
victims, racial threat including wanting the angry mob to go rampage and killed the attackers
were there as well.
The comments from users taken were diverse, and since the study focus on micro-
aggression, it is focus on that issue. What can be found out from this brief section is that, micro-
aggression is not taking a huge role in the overall situation, as taken from the comments of Save
Mizoram, Special Report and Mizo Special Report. It does exist, but the habit of posting content
without cross-checking can disturbed individual and community, as message is spread fast and
viral in the age of digital world.
Even though this content have half-truth, the other half which is cooked up with lies can
led communal issues. But before any conflict or further issues happen, local police and
community authorities i.e Zarkawt YMA send out the right information. This type of lies could
have led to communal and ethnic conflict which could cause a severe problem, it can be seen that
there are people who are using social media producing any content without thinking the cause it
could lead too, and moreover users are overall not aware of the sensitivity that content like this
could led to ethnic and communal issues.

Kawrtethawveng Welfare Committee, Aizawl had given out notification in social media
such as Facebook and Whatsapp asking for forgiveness and wanted to seek justice for the
injustice done, one of the attacker is from the locality of Kawrtethawveng.

Here it can be seen that the same tool i.e Social Media that can be used to create issues is been
used as a tool to communicate to the society for justice.

Case Study 2: Hateagainst Inter-cast marriage

H.Lalchhuangkimi who was crowned Miss Mizoram 2014, later she married a man born
and brought up from inter-cast marriage, Mizo and Non-local Malayali in the year 2015. The
news about her marriage began to spreadwidely among the Mizo through Facebook and Whats
app, giving that she is well-known person after Miss Mizoram Contest.
But the good news of her marriage also brought out what was already an existing issue
among the Mizo community, marriage to the Non-locals. After analyzing Facebook personal
status among users, the news about her marriage that is spread in Whats app and of course
different opinion posted in Mizo Online Community Group, it can be drawn that marrying non-
locals is seen as betrayal of one ethnic background, and this brought a discussion on comments
that is more direct to women saying if any marry a non-locals, they are in fact seen as a betrayal
of their community. Miss Mizoram 2014, recent husband pictures were also posted along with
their wedding day picture where users give opinion which had turned into personal micro-
aggression, where numbers of users decided to give whatever opinion they wanted to give, where
it can be seen that individual hurt was rather seen less important that the idea of
promoting/saving nationalism. But at the same time there are those who are rather neutral on the
whole situation and other who supported the marriage as well.
Here in one Mizo Online Community Group in Facebook, Save Mizoram one user
posted a content regarding Miss Mizoram, asking the administration of the group why this issues
is not being discussed, as Miss Mizoram is marrying a non-local which hurt many of the Mizo
youth. Asking if it is not taken as issues because the man she is marrying is educated and is
doctor by profession. He also asked if Miss Mizoram Organizers are who he believed should be
about promoting and saving Mizo culture are no taking this an serious issues?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/zoramnationalistpartysubhqrslli/search/?query=miss%20mizoram
SAVE MIZORAM: [12:08pm, 23/11/2015]
"Pu Zahawm tak, Miss Mizoram buaipuitu te zingah khan i tel ve niin ka hria a, khatia Miss Mizoram meuhin
hnam dang tlangval pasal atana a nei ta mai kha eng angin nge in ngaih?
A pasal kha lehkhathiam Doctor a nih avangin in ngaimawh ta lem lo em ni?
Mizo thalai tam tak rilru a nat viau lai hian engatinge in ngawih reng?
He Miss Mizoram Organising lam hian Ram leh Hnam Humhalh hi in ngai thu tak vak lo em ni?
A chunga ka zawhnate khi min chhan theih chuan ka lawm ngawt ang"
This of course is a few example of the data taken for the case study, beside personal
micro-aggression towards the couple, many users have believed this to be another serious issues
that needed to be deal among the community.

Case study 3: James Hmar Defaming Non-Locals and Zarkawt Community

The following is a case study of a social media post that went viral. A man named James
Lalchhandama who identifies himself as James Hmar on his Facebook account, decided to post a
message in one of the biggest Mizo Online Community in facebook, Special Report with more
than 1 lakh member on September 27, 2016.

In his post he accused six “non-locals” men were sexually molesting a local schoolgirl
inside a hardware store located at Zarkawt’s main street in Aizawl, Mizoram. He continued by
saying that he tried to stop the situation but he was outnumbered as they tried to attack him with
sticks. He said he asked for helped from the people in the store and from the streets, but no one
wanted to help him. He even said they demanded evidence, and they take sides with the non-
locals instead of him, and he was upset to see that no one wanted to help their own people with
troubles, when a girl could be even molested in broad daylight. He condemned the shopkeepers,
the people situated in Zarkawt and Mizo community in his post.

Soon after this was posted, it went spread fast among the Mizo in whatsapp and
facebook. Racial threat and hate message were posted on the comment section in James Hmar
post, and some condemned the shopkeepers, some posted threat such as wanting and inviting
others to destroy the shops and an act of aggression on non-locals were posted. And there are
those who have doubts on his post, further wanting to know the truth and facts, these people
were also condemned by those who were already angry at the whole situation without having
second thoughts and crossed checked the situation.

After the shopkeepers came to know of the post, knowing it could cause communal
issues, and since threats were made to them and their shops and is of course act defamation, they
clarified along with the local authorities that no such incident had taken place.

And the Police immediately investigate the whole situation; they arrested James
Lalchhadama for spreading lies on the social networking site.

As he later confessed that he had cooked up the story, as he was looking for prostitutes
for his friend and the non-locals told him they don’t know any and asked to search in hotels. He
became angry with them and as the shopkeepers was asking him to leave because of his rage on
the non-locals, he decided to take action into his own hands using social media.

Some of the youth from Zarkawt locality stood near the shop, just in case people act on
the threats, they volunteered to protect the place and people that can be harmed. The Police had
duty as well in case of any riot and the local authority also clarified the whole issues using social
media itself to calm down the situation.

This section presents a brief note on the intetntion of James Lalchhadama who identifies
as James Hmar, it can be clearly seen that he is aware of the impact that social media can do. As
mentioned in review, social media is not power but a space of power, and in this situation he
choose to use as a tool for wrongdoing and harm. He didn’t get his personal wants, so he build
up his rage and cooked a story, a lie to take revenge on the shopkeepers, the non-locals and of
course the mizo community as whole.

Although James had a planned which had an effect both on Online Community and
Zarkawt local Community, his action had caused him jail time. Considering this, James might
have not been aware of the effect it could have on him personally, since it is done behind
screens.

His personal vendetta was more important that the issues it could have to the community
that it can even cause racial conflict and of course ethical thinking might not be thought of as
well.

This section presents a description of the problems as what could have been just a
personal rage and situation had turned into public through social media, by influencing others to
act on unethical issues. This content like any other gives space for anyone to give opinion on the
situation, from analyzing the content itself and the comments, cross-checking facts are not much
taken into consideration among the users, the already existed racist feeling had been given a door
to be lashed through this content which is of course can be a reason why many of the people who
posted racial threat and comments have not considered that this could be a hoax. Secondly those
who considered that it might have been a lie or wanting to know more facts have been attacked
as well. Racial attack might not be done in face to face but the less direct option which is easier
that is done through behind screens, micro-aggression took place as racial comments, threats and
hate speech were there for the shopkeepers, the non-locals and Mizo community.

Conclusion

The researcher hopes that the case studies presented here have communicated some of the
issues and concerns associated with Micro-aggression among the Mizo in Social Media. The
researcher concerned is that even though racism exist long before, with a tool such as social
media it became easier to spread contentthat can have the damaging effects to individual or
community.

Micro-aggression does exist, but it is not a huge activity and after analyzing three Mizo
Online Community Special Report, Mizo Special Report and Save Mizoram with each having
member overs 1 lakh only about 80 to 400 comments were there regarding the above three case
study. Moreover, the many of the same users have commented more than once. It can be seen
that not even 1 percentage of the users are acting out as racist, and the comments posted are not
all micro-aggression. The users most of them preferred to be passive in the situation or it can be
because they didn’t see the post.

But at the same time, it is also disseminated in whats app, even though the numbers of
users directly participated in the racial comments, anyone who disseminated the message are
apart of the issues whether they aware of the effect it can have or not.

From these three case studies, the very reason behind micro-aggression could be
Xenophobia i.e the fear or intense dislikes for a person from another ethnic background, which
make them feel like an outsider in other places other than their own or the others as outsider in
their place.

And it could be because of having hostile towards non-locals, which can be significant
examples in the recent past like insurgency and a threat perception of competition with others
fearing that they will eliminated in their own places in economy, land and culture etc.

For example, in cases like inter-cast marriage, the feeling of betrayal against ethnic and
community is there, and events such as attacks by non-locals brought out the feeling of those
who have racial issues with others, by the comments on the users post.

Comparing to other micro-aggression seen from literature reviewed, the activity can be
concluded lesser but it is still a common practice. But the problem could be that posting content
without cross-checking can have an effect and cause problem at individual and personal level,
and especially when it comes with content related to non-locals or other ethnic groups, it can led
to serious issues including the promotion of racism and even ethnic and communal riots and
issues.

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