Can we trust social media to empower our voice? The answer
might not be clear this moment but the hope evoked within one's heart has
increased considering that social media does hold quite an influence. That
influence is strong enough to pressurize the higher ups even. As we are aware,
social media is mostly used as a distraction, it's also a go-to entertainment
spot for our youth and even the elderly. They are basically enveloped by it
these past years, scrolling through for hours, so, why not take advantage of the
very platform that contains such attention. As it's said the more the merrier,
if we are to raise our voice, we surely need support to spread the word as far
as possible and social media has that potential to do so.
Many cases have been dismissed due to ignorance and that led to those incidents
taking place frequently. Are we to let this happen? We need to take a stand.
Even if the culprit isn't convicted for his deeds, it still emits an empathetic
feeling between the fellow humans towards the victim. If many have been denied
justice, many got to experience the merry taste of it and several victories have
been achieved by the help of social media.
One of the many victims saved by the very platform of social sites named Sarah
Gill, a transgender woman, claimed "That post saved my life". In 2010, her being
of the age 23, Sarah was beaten and threatened for her life by 3 men that
followed her. Feeling distraught and to seek protection, she brought it up on a
Facebook post asking help from her community and as it's quoted by herself, it
did as people pitched in.
The one that created an utter chaos throughout is the case of a six year old
named Zainab Ansari who lived in Kasur, Pakistan. On 4th January 2018, while on
the way to her Quran recital, she was abducted by an unknown man as it was
covered on the CCTV footage. She was held hostage and her body was found in a
garbage heap. Her autopsy reports result that the six year old was assaulted and
tortured before her ruthless murder. This incident received an outrage globally
as it went viral and trended with the hash tag #JusticeForZainab on various
social websites. The unexpected amount of reaction put pressure on the officials
and demanded for her justice.
Imran Ali, the culprit of the said case was executed on October 17th, 2018. It
was later found out that he was guilty of seven more murders before Zainab and
through the execution of this pedophile; we also brought justice to the unheard
cries of help by raising our voice.
#BlackLivesMatter, it is an international activist movement that works for the
justice against the violence and racism towards black people. The foundation was
built in July 13 2013 but it was basically hushed over until July 18 2016, Once
again, social media was the path for people to raise the voice and spread the
word over the discrimination towards black people. The hash tag was trended at a
massive amount and it's said to be one of the biggest movements where millions
gathered and protested for the equal rights of POCs (People of Color) after the
very acknowledgement of this issue through social media.
#JusticeForShahzaib, as we look more into the cases, the case of Shahzaib Khan
stands out, for through the help of social media, his culprit Shahrukh Jatoi was
brought to his deserved punishment as the word got spread from site to site.
While standing up for his sister, he got into a fight with Shahrukh and his
peers. After eventually tracing him down, they murdered him on spot for
irrelevant humiliation in the name of revenge.
This incident took place in Karachi, Pakistan on 25th December 2012. After the
news got out, the people went crazy over it and forced the government to take an
action against the guilty. On 7th June 2013, Jatoi was sentenced to death for
his crime.
As all mentioned above, I believe we have come to a conclusion that social media
has grasped the power to bring justice to the innocent as it gives us the
ability to speak for the sake of ourselves and others. Justice has never come
easy and never will but it's all worth a try! For, everything is connected to
the end of it.