Bashing has inevitably become a norm in social media. Whenever an issue, whether true or not, displeases a massive bunch of people, the latter would take to their keyboards and type often crass and demeaning words, disregarding whatever dignity the bashed one has left. For most of it, especially when we demand accountability, calling out someone on social media is the right thing to do. But as they say, anything excess is bad. The toxicity that resulted in the excessive bashing of Filipinos in social media has taken effect even in the sports industry, with Filipino basketball player Kai Sotto becoming one of its unfortunate prey.
What led to Kai’s bashing?
Kai Sotto is definitely one of the sought-after Filipino basketball players in the current generation. With a towering 7’3” height, the advantage of getting into prestigious leagues outside his motherland, such as the National Basketball Association (NBA), is higher. In fact, he ventured into numerous attempts to get into the NBA, one of them the 2021 draft, after his varsity stint with the Ateneo High School.
With some rejections along the way, Kai and his ability were questioned on the sidelines, unfortunately by his fellow Filipinos. Why would a beanpole like Sotto– a rare kind from the usual short-statured Filipino genes– not get any attention from the international basketball community? Maybe his skill is not at par with the standards? Probably people just got carried away with the hype of his height. These are the questions that led to people bashing Sotto, as he was benched in most of Orlando’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Filipinos habit of bashing
Being the biggest social media user in the world also gave us the title of one of the biggest bashers in the world. It is without a doubt that social media toxicity is tagged along with being Filipino. On whatever occasions over the internet, the insatiable nature of Pinoys will be temporarily satisfied when they have successfully poured all of their unwanted feelings into the person that they are bashing. In the field of sports, this toxicity is seen when they put too much expectation on a player whom they believe will excel in every game he or she plays. This is the same case happening right now with Kai Sotto. Amidst the redirections he had experienced trying to achieve his “dream play” in the NBA, there goes his kababayans (fellowmen) who think that he is a failure and would not go as far as his contemporaries.
Bashing has its own limits
Calling out someone is way different from bashing. There will always be a fine line between constructively criticizing someone and uttering destructive words. The former promotes growth, while the latter produces only a discouraged individual. Bashing in all forms and perpetuated in all spaces are and will not be acceptable. We can be blunt with our opinions and be straight with our recommendations, especially for a budding athlete like Sotto, but it should be said so with the purpose of helping the person.
