In today’s cyber-world, many have grown fond of verbally attacking other netizens and maliciously commenting on miscellaneous matters, including trivia, in a merciless, relentless manner.

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The Internet boom and easy account registration procedures on Facebook and other social networks and forums have allowed users to freely – and carelessly – share their opinions and comments.

Many netizens, mostly young, have thus abused the space and post selfies in which they pose sensuously or show off their valuable belongings.

Others comfortably vent anger fueled by their everyday encounters or share plaintive accounts on Facebook.

Several Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper readers said they have grown tired of stumbling upon such things on the social networking site.

They pointed out that many tend to go to great lengths to lure likes by posting titillating photos or pictures capturing themselves performing outrageous acts.

A few weeks ago, a group of young people, including university students, mindlessly trampled on flowering lettuce farms in Don Duong District in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong just to pose for photos they would later upload on their Facebook pages to attract likes.

The farmers who own the lettuce have tried several methods to keep uninvited visitors from treading on and damaging their vegetables, to little avail.

They have even taken drastic measures like digging ditches around their gardens and letting loose their guard dogs.

Pham Van Tan, a lettuce garden owner, said farmers like himself do not stop youths from admiring the spectacle or posing for photos, but demanded they be tactful and polite enough not to tread on the flowering veggies.

He added he closed his bike repair shop a few weeks earlier just to stay home and watch out for intruders.

“I think the overwhelming urge to show off their coolness by posting selfies on social networks to attract likes and attention has driven a number of young people to ignore their dignity and cultural norms,” commented The Anh, a Tuoi Tre reader from Da Lat City – a famous resort town in Lam Dong.

Landscape photographer Nguyen Van Thang, nicknamed Dalat Traveler, was one of the first people to discover the gorgeous flowering lettuce gardens and post his photos featuring them on his Facebook to share the charms of his hometown.

But he has asserted that from now on he will not share the exact addresses of the scenic spots on Facebook.

Netizens have also voiced criticism against a number of youths who committed similar acts during the flowering seasons in the northwestern region, which is home to picturesque landscapes.

Some have posted controversial photos on local photography forums as a reminder, but their efforts are mostly in vain.

‘Stoning’

Regarding netizens’ criticisms and comments, not all are constructive, however.

“Stoning,” as the word is commonly used in Vietnamese, originally meant constructively criticizing a certain behavior or act for the better.

But the constructive criticism has turned into a dominant trend in which aggressive young netizens freely vent their anger on certain people or behaviors in a relentless, crude way.

A Google search for “nem da” (stoning) in Vietnamese yields around 725,000 results that include verbal cyberspace fights over many ridiculous topics or even for no reason at all.

As Tuoi Tre reporters observe, anything can be easily transformed into a target for ‘stoning,’ which is instantly followed by a new wave of “rebounding the stones.”

Most ‘stoning’ comments are packed with abusive language.

Cam Sinh, a freshman at a Ho Chi Minh City technology college, says she has seen many comments contain swear words as she reads them in the reviews before choosing a film to watch online.

Recent incidents which have attracted the most verbal attacks include young singer Son Tung MTP’s allegedly plagiarizing a Korean song (the charge was later dropped); outrageous statements by Kenny Sang – a self-proclaimed sensation – about his looks and wealth; and Le Roi – a farmer from northern Hai Duong Province who has become a sensation on forums and social networks after posting hundreds of videos featuring his dissonant covers of several songs, both in English and Vietnamese.

Many “keyboard heroes,” as aggressive netizens are known in Vietnamese, also gather equally aggressive friends to “stone” certain people and call themselves members of the “associations of people who love stoning others.”

Apart from pages which speak ill of public figures and those attacking these pages, Facebook users have also created pages dedicated to making fun of and insulting certain people, including their teachers and classmates.  

Forums for youths are also filled with verbal abuse, which attracts many views and comments. The virtual brawls usually stem from trivial fights in everyday life.

Many also develop an unusual fondness for seeing others being “stoned.”

One Facebook user admitted his current daily pastime is reading the abusive, obscene comments and images on the personal page Kenny Sang, who has been excessively rapped for his unimaginable boasts.

Invisible consequences

Local educators and psychologists have voiced their concerns over the frequency of cyber-brawls.

“The hostile cyber-attackers have inadvertently associated themselves with the bad instead of constructively criticizing them. Kindness and consideration seem to be prevailed over by aggressiveness and even maliciousness in today’s cyber-world,” said Le Phong Le, a lecturer at Da Lat University in Lam Dong Province.  

Le added that to prevent the unpredictable, even irreversible offense and damage incurred by those being attacked, the attackers should visualize who they are writing/speaking to and put themselves in their shoes.

Dao Le Hoa An, a psychologist, said many clients come to her for help in seeking relief from malicious comments targeted at them. 

An also urged netizens to equip themselves with “emotional reins” before giving such negative comments.

“Throwing cyber-stones at others doesn’t result in actual bleeding, but it may be responsible for irreversible harm in the long run,” veteran artist Thanh Loc noted.

Loc added he no longer pays attention to these online comments, as many of them are distracting and destructive.

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