[Annotation 2 (Revised)] Human Flesh Search──Let the Voice of the Masses be heard

  In China where the term “human flesh search” first appeared and became a controversial issue, the internet populism(網路民粹主義) also plays an important role in it. It is hard to make a specific definition of populism. An English political theorist Margaret Canovan stated that populism puts emphasis on the masses’ thoughts and that the society can be reformed by the group power. The Chinese government is on the top of the social status and controls all the distribution of profit which also increases the poverty gap (貧富差距) after Chinese economic reforms. For the masses, the common people, who have complaints about the upper reaches of society, the Internet provides a good way to speak for themselves. They can use the group power like human flesh search to find out something illegal such as the Chinese venal officials’infamous behaviors. It is too late for the judiciary to represent the masses to crack down the crime.
 Furthermore, the Chinese Netinens have the following characteristics(侯政男、蔡宗哲,2013):
(1) They are younger and low-edcationed, which cause them to have more immature and irrational comments.
(2) They are potential proponents of populism.
(3) They usually have the psychological expectations that the law does  not punish a group of people(法不責眾). Each of them only takes a little part of the collaboration in human flesh search. They can hide behind the big group of netizens and say anything without being afraid of the law.
(4) They have strong moral senses.

Reference

侯政男、蔡宗哲（2013）。《嚴格管制下的中國網路民粹主義狂歡現象分析：理論建構初探》，中華傳播學會 2013 年會論文 http://ccs.nccu.edu.tw/history_paper_content.php?P_ID=1487&P_YEAR=2013。

Reflection

Reflection

  The topic Tony and I chose is “human flesh search”. In the past weeks, from issue paper to annotation, the “privacy problem” has been mentioned over and over again. In the teacher-student conference, I finally realized there are other aspects related to human flesh search, such as Bakhtin's carnivalization theory. Just like professor said, we should read more books or essays instead of keeping discussing something that the common people talked about.

 Tim Kuo also gave us another idea that we never thought before. He said that people are social animal(群居動物). People are used to getting together and are afraid of the alien. So when someone has strange behavior, the others will banish him. When someone post some irritating opinions on the Internet, netizens use “human flesh search” to find the alien’s true identity to condemn him publicly. Robert and Knot mentioned the presumption of innocence (無罪推定原則). If the target of human flesh search is innocent, he will be hurt by the group power. The suspect is easily thought to be guilty on the Internet without the legal proceedings. It can be one of Tony’s standpoint.

Tim & Tim
They talked about the individual rights and society. I never think of it before. Is it really necessary that everyone should undertake the responsibility of society? Is the personal profit much important than society? I can not decide which side I should support. I want one of them can convince me. But I can hardly understand what they want to express through their oral presentation.

Robert & Knot
Their annotation was very persuasive and easy to understand. Each of them has strong standpoint. They said they actually didn’t find a conclusion until they discussed again and again. That is what Tony and I have to do. Discussion even the quarrel can help us clarify our point.

Vivian & Lisa
They prepared well. Their issue is also about the social responsibility and business. It is similar to Robert and Knot’s. Maybe this two groups can exchange the sources they found or their ideas to help rich the diversity of content.  

Phoebe & Niki

The topic of show girls remind me that the NCCU doctor sell the chicken steak. And many people debate is it appropriate to have this kind of job when he has a higher educational background.

[Annotation 2] Human Flesh Search──Let the Voice of the Masses be heard

[Annotation 2] 

Human Flesh Search──Let the Voice of the Masses be heard
  In China where the term “human flesh search” first appeared and became a controversial issue, the internet populism(網路民粹主義) also play an important role in it. It is hard to make a specific definition of populism. An English political theorist Margaret Canovan stated that populism put emphasis on the masses’ thoughts and the society can be reformed by the group power. The Chinese government is on the top of the social status and control  all the distribution of profit which is also increases the poverty gap (貧富差距) after Chinese economic reform. For the masses, the common people, who have complaints about the upper reaches of society, Internet provides a good way to speak for themselves. They can use the group power like human flesh search to find out something illegal such as that they explore the Chinese venal officials’ infamous behavior which I mentioned in annotation 1. It is too late for the judiciary to represent the masses to crack down the crime.

Sources

侯政男、蔡宗哲（2013）。《嚴格管制下的中國網路民粹主義狂歡現象分析：理論建構初探》，中華傳播學會 2013 年會論文 http://ccs.nccu.edu.tw/history_paper_content.php?P_ID=1487&P_YEAR=2013。

[Annotation 1 (Revised) ] Can Human Flesh Search Stands In Justice?

[1]

Can Human Flesh Search Stands In Justice?

  This picture was published by The New Yorker in 1993. It show us an important difference between the real world and the victual world── anonymity. 

  Some called human fresh search “cyber manhunt”, and describe it as witch-hunt in the Middle Ages in Europe. When a person is targeted, his all personal information like ID number, address, pictures and everything he did will exposed in public. People who oppose human fresh research question it is Internet vigilante or Internet lynching [2]. Because there are some enraged netizens would annoy the target’s family, blaming him with filthy language and even send him a death threat. As far as I am concerned, human fresh search is a tool to help improve our society and it tell us that everyone still have to follow the law even in the victual world. Knife can be used to kill someone but we would not forbid a knife. So is human fresh search.     

  In China, the government corruption has been a big issue. Thanks to human fresh search, the venal officials’ infamous behavior can be exposed in public. It was the contribution of human fresh.

Source:

[1]  Copyright Image by Peter Steiner published by The New Yorker on July 5, 1993
[2]Human-flesh search, Internet Vigilante or Internet lynching