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- Twitter user defended her brother from netizens mocking the way he speaks Tagalog.
- She said that her brother insisted on speaking Tagalog in one interview as he wants more people to understand. He was made fun of instead.
There are times when even if a person does something good, others will still find a fault in it and ignore the person’s original intention.
This is what happened to Twitter user Sabrina’s (@sabgyupsal on Twitter) brother named Victor Bagatcholon III, who got bullied online. She shared the story by making a now viral thread on the social media site.
(A Fu*cking Thread About How My Brother Is Being Cyber Bullied)
She stated that her brother witnessed an incident wherein the kids robbed someone inside the jeepney. He took a video of what was happening and it went viral on Facebook.
First off, my brother witnessed an event while on his way home. He saw a group of kids rob a passenger on a jeep and decided to record the whole incident. The video he would then upload to Facebook where it would then become viral.
There are many media outlets that contacted him to ask questions, but GMA News requested an interview so that he can describe it in detail.
Some reporters contacted him to use the video in their news articles and posts, but one reporter from GMA specifically requested an interview with my brother to describe the incident in detail.
The netizen noted that because of her brother’s video, they were able to catch the thieves.
It’s very important to note at this point that because of his video, the police were able to catch all the perpetrators.
She said that not only does her brother want to be interviewed, he also wanted to speak in Tagalog because he knows that it will be aired on national television and many viewers would understand it more, however, he is not that fluent when it comes to speaking the language.
Now my brother was interviewed, right? The problem is he wanted to speak in Tagalog since it would air on national tv and what language would most of the viewers understand more than Tagalog? Thing is, he has difficulty speaking in Tagalog.
It resulted to him sounding conyo in the interview as English was actually their mother tongue.
This is because English is our mother tongue and he only really learned proper conversational Tagalog during his college days. And because of this, he came out really conyo in the interview.
The siblings thought that since the kids have been caught, people would move on, however, a netizen re-posted the interview on Facebook, poking fun at the way the young man speaks Tagalog, implying that it sounds like he has braces.
Someone reposted the interview from GMA. (the hashtag reads as: kuya wala ka namang braces)
Other netizens followed suit and also made fun of him saying things like they want to punch him, or making homophobic comments.
And the repost garnered an influx of disgusting comments all cyber bullying my brother. Things like “sarap sapakin” or “dapat siya nalang nahuli” could be read.
There were also a lot of homophobic comments like “bakla ka ba kuya” “pasosyal naman tong bakla na to sarap sapakin”. (I’m sorry I can’t provide screenshots as I was too busy angrily replying to and reporting most of them.)
The Twitter user shared that her brother was really self conscious before the interview but instead of feeling good for helping, his insecurity and anxiety got worse.
Even before this interview my brother has been really self-conscious about the way he speaks. So the hateful comments just magnified his insecurity and has left him in an anxious and depressed state until now.
She passed along a message to the bullies, asking them if they have nothing to do than to pick on other people’s weakness.
To those who are making fun of my brother: don’t you have anything else better to do than to pick on someone’s weakness? Is it really worth focusing on, how he had difficulty in articulating himself rather than the fact that because of him, the kids were caught?
She also called out the page Filipino Community for promoting cyber bullying.
If you haven’t already, report this page called “Filipino Community”. They are proud of being Filipino yet are promoting cyber bullying? the actual f*ck?
She then thanked everyone’s encouraging messages and said that she’ll make sure to show them to her brother.
