Images generated by AI
Death is not the end, but the starting point of consumption.
Ms. Xu Xiyuan (Big S), the former screen goddess, died suddenly due to flu and pneumonia. Her death should have been a quiet and solemn mourning ceremony, but was ruthlessly alienated in the surging waves of the Internet.
As a well-known figure in the entertainment industry, Big S’s family life has attracted much attention, and her divorce with Wang Xiaofei has long become a topic of discussion for the public after dinner.
Now, her death seems to have become a “fuse”, rekindling all kinds of conflicts and entanglements in the past, and public opinion is instantly aroused, from mourning for the deceased to speculations and imaginations about family relationships, and a scene Carnival on public issues about family, emotions and interests.
Zhang Lan and Wang Xiaofei, as important parties in the incident, quickly compiled a traffic script and performed in person.
The alienation of private tragedy: the absurd transformation from mourning to consumption
Rumors such as “Wang Xiaofei chartered the flight to receive the ashes of Big S” and “Big S will be exposed” grew like wild weeds, quickly occupying the dominant position in the public opinion field. The spreaders of these rumors seem to be “ghosts” hiding in the dark. They weave lies at an almost crazy speed, turning this tragedy into a farce of “consuming the dead”, and this private tragedy It also transformed into a feast of gluttons in the public opinion carnival.
This behavior is undoubtedly shameful. It not only violates basic human nature and morality, but also has great disrespect for the deceased and his family.
“The tragedy destroys the valuable things in life to people.”
But now, the tragedy of a person’s death has been “consumed” by some people in an extremely absurd way.
The role played by Zhang Lan and Wang Xiaofei in this storm is sad. The mother and son teamed up to print the death certificate into a traffic check.
After Da S’s death, Zhang Lan quickly resumed broadcasting and promoted goods, using the popularity of the incident to conduct “opportunistic” marketing. Her live broadcast room quickly became a “public opinion vortex”. Countless netizens pointed their anger at her, and she declared “dead.” The live streaming of “who prays for blessings” is essentially an absurd performance art of making coffee with ashes.
The former mother-in-law set up a billboard incredibly in front of her daughter-in-law’s grave.
Wang Xiaofei’s social media words and deeds are also controversial. While missing Big S, he also angrily scolded Zhang Lan and performed a “feelingful one-man show” on social media. Every teardrop fell accurately into the porcelain bowl of rewards. The “feeling mask” develops into mottled hypocrisy under the magnifying glass of public opinion. The “confession rose” he planted on social media is surrounded by the will documents of his ex-wife.
This kind of split personality performance, in the tearing of selfish desires and morality, slices the soul into cans of different personalities.
Wang Xiaofei and his mother Zhang Lan boiled the bereavement into a soup base of Maliuji hot and sour noodles, and performed wildly under the spotlight of public opinion with a posture of tearing apart and challenging morality.
When death can be alienated into means of production, tragedy becomes the top one in the live broadcast room.
The boundaries of platform governance
Where is the boundary between “freedom of speech” and “platform supervision”?
The governance of the platform is not easy.
Between “freedom of speech” and “platform supervision”, the platform is like an actor walking a tightrope. If you are not careful, you may trigger a rebound in public opinion.
TikTok banned accounts such as “Zhang Lan·Qiao Life”, “Zhang Lan Zhiqing Yue Selection”, and “Wang Xiaofei” indefinitely on the grounds of “malicious hype” and “repeated violations of regulations”, thereby cutting off those who tried to use the deceased to seek commercial benefits. “Black Hand”, it sends a clear warning to those who try to take advantage of the troubled waters in hot events: any behavior that violates public order, good customs and moral bottom lines will be subject to severe sanctions.
Weibo’s handling method is relatively cautious. Although Weibo did not determine that Zhang Lan violated the rules directly, it suspended its live broadcast function and cleaned up thousands of rumors. This is similar to his past operation methods, which is also sensitive to Weibo. The cautious attitude towards public opinion management during the period tried to find a balance between maintaining platform order and ensuring users’ freedom of speech.
In fact, balance is not easy to achieve.
Douyin’s decision-making process for “Xia Xiaojian” account from temporary ban to permanent ban reflects the complexity and difficulty of information verification in hot events.
Can the ban measures eradicate the vicious competition that puts traffic first?
Although the ban measures can temporarily calm the public opinion storm, whether they can eradicate the vicious competition that puts traffic first still needs to be tested by time and practice. After all, when public opinion is in decline, “ban” often becomes a stopgap measure, rather than a long-term mechanism to promote public opinion and industry self-discipline.
Platform governance should go beyond “firefighter-style” emergency response.
A feast of human blood steamed buns
Zhang Lan’s “entrepreneur” character suffered a huge impact in this storm.
She takes “the hardships of entrepreneurship” and “family responsibility” as the core narrative of live broadcasts, trying to create a tenacious and courageous image of a woman.
However, her behavior of selling goods during sensitive periods instantly broke the public’s beautiful impression of her.
She was criticized for “consuming the dead”, and her behavior exposed the huge separation between public figures’ business behavior and moral expectations.
The public’s expectations for public figures are that they can adhere to the basic moral bottom line while pursuing commercial interests. However, Zhang Lan’s behavior instantly collapsed the public’s trust in her.
Her interaction with Wang Xiaofei and her mother-son, such as recommending a rumor video of “chartering flight”, was questioned as a manipulation of public opinion by a community of family interests. This kind of behavior is undoubtedly extremely dangerous. It not only harms the public’s interests, but also a great challenge to social order and good customs.
Wang Xiaofei’s labels of “feeling” and “contradictory” are even more confusing. From the public opinion war after the divorce to the current “chartered flight” controversy, his public image has repeatedly swayed between the “victim” and the “perpetrator”.
Wang Xiaofei plays multiple roles on the emotional stage, but she can never find that true self.
The abnormal symbiosis between family grudges and traffic economy
The divorce between Wang Xiaofei and Big S has long become a “historical problem”.
The property disputes after the two divorces, the custody disputes between children, and Zhang Lan’s frequent mention of Da S’s family privacy during the live broadcast have long laid the groundwork for this incident.
In Gu Junye’s statement, he alluded to Wang Xiaofei’s “pretending to be desolate”, and this accusation instantly intensified the confrontation between the two sides. After the family conflicts were amplified by public opinion, they became increasingly uncontrollable. Driven by the traffic economy, family conflicts have been infinitely amplified and become an eye-catching “selling point”.
Zhang Lan is familiar with the “controversial marketing” strategy.
From the early verbal battle with Wang Sicong to the use of hot events to promote the Maliuji brand, Zhang Lan is well aware of the traffic logic of “black and red are also red”.
In the pursuit of commercial interests, she seemed to have forgotten the social responsibilities she should bear as a public figure. Although her behavior brought her huge traffic and benefits in the short term, it caused irreparable damage to her public image.
Rebuilding the bottom line consensus on online public opinion
The death of Big S should have been a decent farewell, but it evolved into a farce due to the entanglement between interests and traffic. When the traffic economy collides with the bottom line of human nature, can the parties involved in the incident retain the most basic awe of life while chasing the hot spots?
Public figures should make it clear that “free speech” does not mean “bottomless hype”, especially when it comes to the privacy of the deceased and family, they should become the guardians of emotional ethics, not destroyers. Their every word and action should be based on maintaining social order and good customs, and it should be based on conveying positive energy. Platform governance should also be continuously upgraded to establish a more transparent violation judgment mechanism.
At the same time, strengthening cross-platform collaboration and curbing the spread of rumors across platforms is the responsibility of the platform. When the information in the network is entangled by darkness, the platform should become the “beacon” to protect the network ecology.
Guiding the rational participation of the public is also crucial. Netizens should be wary of being swept up by emotions, avoid becoming the driving force behind rumors, and reduce over-exploring family privacy and return to basic respect for the deceased. In this noisy and bustling era, we should not forget the warmth of human nature.
Let the deceased rest in peace and let public opinion return to rationality
When the traffic economy collides with the bottom line of human nature, can we retain the most basic awe of life while chasing hot spots?
The death of Big S should have been a decent farewell, becoming a mirror that reflects the fragility of life, but it is twisted into an absurd landscape in the haha mirror of interests and traffic entanglement.
Only by jointly building a bottom-line consensus by platforms, public figures and netizens, can similar tragedies be avoided from repeating.
When we watch this “cyber memorial”, perhaps only the awe of life can allow us to guard the last oasis of human nature surrounded by traffic vultures. After all, what the modern public opinion field needs is not gravediggers, but night watchmen who can wipe the tombstones of human nature.
After the account was banned, a reporter received a response from Zhang Lan. Zhang Lan said, “I don’t agree, I don’t accept it.” She said that behind us are employees and enterprises, and the lethality of this punishment and our competition for custody have set up huge obstacles.
At this time, employees and children were brought to the dining table for traffic consumption again.(This article was first published on Titanium Media APP, author | Ma Jinnan)
For more exciting content, follow Titanium Media WeChat account (ID: taimeiti), or download Titanium Media App