A woman who was filmed racially abusing an Asian woman on a Sydney train has been on the receiving end of a tirade of online abuse from users gobsmacked by her behaviour.
The YouTube video has garnered nearly 270,000 views, making national and international headlines. On SBS’s Facebook page, the article was shared almost 400 times and attracted 540 comments.
The 55-year-old woman mocked the language and facial features of an Asian woman on a Sydney to Newcastle train on Wednesday. The incident was filmed by another train passenger and the video posted on YouTube.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane strongly condemned the attacks and commended people for filming the incident.
But is online shaming an effective way to stop racist and discriminatory behaviour?
Lydia Woodyatt, a social psychologist who studies shame, said online shaming can be both a negative and a positive.
"Shame can be a positive in some situations if it brings offending people back into the community. But it can also be a negative if it isolates and marginalises people."
Shame, Woodyatt said, is an effective way to reaffirm community values and norms.
"It’s a way for society to say, 'Hey, hang on. This is not acceptable to us.' So in that sense, in terms of reaffirming group norms, it seems quite valid."
Woodyatt added that the huge online reaction to the video was also a way for people to distance themselves from negative Australian stereotypes.
"We post it because we want to distance ourselves from this negative, racist stereotype of Australians. We don’t want to be associated with that, so we react quite vehemently against it."
Despite its effectiveness in calling out bad behaviour, shaming someone online undoubtedly has an ugly side.
"It’s definitely an effective way to communicate group values," said Woodyatt. "Whether that person deserves the outpouring of hate back towards her, I’m not sure."
One Facebook user Grace Collinson commented: "I hope this woman is so ashamed and humiliated she never catches public transport again. I hope her family disown her and she is refused service at every opportunity."
“It’s a way for society to say, 'Hey, hang on. This is not acceptable to us.' So in that sense, in terms of reaffirming group norms, it seems quite valid.”
Another person Gill Ian wrote: "What an embarrassment to society! She is horrid."
"Ugly face ugly mind," Suzanne Mcdowall commented.
The woman has since apologised for her behaviour, telling media she was stressed about finding work that day.
"I had a rotten day, I've been chasing work for quite some time now," she told ninemsn.
"It's awful what I said to that woman, I do agree," the woman said.
Woodyatt said the internet can be unforgiving and without the full story, snippets of people's lives can be disproportionately magnified.
"We get the grab, but we don’t know the context of this person’s life. We don’t know the full story that led to the event.
"The internet isn’t fair for anyone," said Woodyatt. "It seems the treatment of people online is always out of context, often disproportionate so I don’t think it’s a ‘fair’ forum in that sense."
Do you think publicly shaming people online is effective? What do you think about the online backlash against the woman in video?
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