Opinion: Bashing Minors Online is Not Karma, It's Bullying

Let’s start with this: This won't cover the recent celebrity parent's interview or the celebrity’s actions over the past 18 years. This will not cover past interviews with the celebrity’s extended family.  And this will not cover clapbacks from stepfathers.

None of these matter in the topic of online hate and bashing against minors. But for proper context, though I doubt that you are reading this because you are blissfully unaware, the Philippines’ side of the Internet has evidently been up in arms against Patrick Garcia and his family, including sister, Cheska Garcia Kramer, following his recent interview with Ogie Diaz, wherein he talks about his eldest son, Jazz, and Jennylyn Mercado, his former girlfriend and now wife of Dennis Trillo.

This interview has the internet seemingly united in hating on Patrick. Still, some have taken it a step further by leaving hateful comments on the social media accounts of his eldest daughter, Michelle, whom he shares with his wife, Nikka Garcia, as well as his niece, Kendra, Cheska and Doug's eldest daughter. Others have bashed the young teen on their own social media accounts.

‘Deserve naman niya dahil sa ginawa ng tatay niya.’

I have tried to tell my algorithm this isn't the content I want to see, but some still slip through, and I’ve seen people proudly commenting hate speech about Michelle’s physical appearance. When the reminder not to drag the kids into the mess comes up, I keep reading the reply: Karma 'yan sa ginawa ng tatay niya.

Karma?

Is this the same karma believed by Hindus and Buddhists, which the Cambridge Dictionary defines as “the force produced by a person's actions in one life that influences what happens to them in future lives”? Or perhaps more casually, from the same dictionary, "a situation in which things happen to someone as a result of their previous actions, or the force that makes this happen"?

If you believe in karma, often encapsulated in ‘What goes around comes around’, you would understand that this universal law suggests that our lack of active participation in vengeance will not keep a wrongdoer from receiving what is due him.

To put it bluntly: Karma is not why online hate towards a minor becomes 'just' or 'deserve'. We cannot use this belief to legitimize our misplaced anger. It is not karmic law. It is merely your anger, your sense of injustice, which you have presumptuously publicized online, unbridled and unrestrained, simply because you found an object to hate on—a minor.

In a past Smart Parenting article, we’ve written about why it will never be okay to insult public personalities’ kids. But let’s repeat it: Kids are kids; they are minors. They are growing individuals who deserve the chance to decide who they want to be and should not be measured by their parents’ actions. Minors are not equipped to handle bashing or bullying, even minors who are willingly pursuing a career in public. It is part of the job, but that does not mean it should be the norm to comment negatively, especially on a minor’s appearance or endeavor.

Can you really tell a thirteen-year-old girl to her face: "Mukha kang chararat."

Leaving hate speech on a teen girl’s social media accounts is the same as telling it to her face. Think of your sister, your cousin, your niece, your precious inaanak. Then try insulting her. In person. Do you feel better about yourself?

And if you're a fully grown adult insulting a minor, what are you even doing? Why are you even?

No child 'deserves' bullying or bashing. Coming for a minor online because "cancel culture in Korea is worse than in the Philippines" is a lame excuse to unleash your anger and a poor attempt at validating it. There are far too many adults who are okay with bashing a teenage girl over her appearance, her alleged 'involvement' in her father's interview (a child asking for her father's help implicates her?), and the pathetic justification is that it's her father's 'karma'. No, let's call this what it is: bullying. Adults are bullying a 13-year-old girl online over her appearance and an issue that does not concern their own families.

When a news bit on online bullying in schools and among fellow students makes the headlines, the same internet cries, "What is happening to our youth?" But it's okay for adults to insult a teenager? Justice has never been served by a social media comment or post. But it is surely unjust to comment and post hate towards a minor. And it is foul to use minors to attack their parents.

But hey, whatever it is you’re doing—because it's definitely not karmic law—what goes around comes around, right?

As of this writing, Star Magic has released a statement asking the public to refrain from involving Michelle Garcia in the controversy involving her father, Patrick Garcia.