Is rage-baiting J-Kom's new tactic?

 

One of the things that I have learnt as I got older is that sometimes, we can’t always go on the offensive and be aggressive with whatever ideas, opinions, or thoughts that we have if we want to be persuasive and convincing.

After more than two decades as a journalist, I have gone from being very aggressive to mellowing out a little bit more (or so I think I have!).

I am still passionate about the issues (which mostly remain the same), but with a different approach.

When I reflect on my younger days, I notice that my writings were very angry and that I was constantly attacking anything I didn’t like or disagreed with.

I didn’t even care if the words I was writing made a difference. I just wanted to scream.

As the years went by, I started taking stock of what my writings have actually accomplished. What I saw was that there was nothing much other than having people who already agreed with me cheering me on.

Did it lead to any change in society? Did I manage to persuade and change the minds of people who weren’t in agreement with me? Not really.

In fact, these people were just angrier at me, and I would get insults and threats hurled at me online.

Well, I actually didn’t mind the insults and threats (and I still don’t). I would actually be fuelled by it, and it made me want to be more critical and aggressive in my style.

Sometimes, it was almost like I was rage-baiting. But again, what did this really achieve?

Taking a different approach

So, several years back, I decided to be less aggressive and confrontational in my approach when I write. I was still very critical about the things I didn’t agree with, but I wasn’t as angry or constantly being on the attack.

I started taking the soft approach because I thought that if I wanted to convince those who I didn’t agree with, I needed to make sure they were receptive to what I was trying to say.

My logic is that nobody would be open to listening to me if I came guns blazing, screaming, and shouting. So, I became softer yet still suggested change and improvements in a more constructive way.

Slowly, I started to see a bit more engagement from a different group of readers. The same people I was criticising started seeking me out to have a discourse or even pick my thoughts. They wanted to hear what I could suggest.

They would call me for discussions, and sometimes, even appoint me to committees to amend practices, policies and procedures.

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How much they actually implemented the suggestions I made, I’m not sure, but there is engagement.

There were no more insults and threats. Well, not so much anyway!

J-Kom goes on the offensive

Why am I rambling about this? I’ve been observing how the new Community Communications Department (J-Kom) chief Hisyamuddin Ghazali has been settling into his new role.

Almost immediately, he has been going on a big offensive mission on his social media platforms.

Several of his postings were aggressive in nature, making analogies and comparisons with going to war.

And there was even one posting where his supporters went to observe Rohingya businesses. What was that about?

I know that he must be very excited in his new role but this is communications. One needs to keep a cool head and not be overzealous. Well, Hisyamuddin is younger than me, so I guess he still has that aggressive approach in him.

But I hope he learns fast because if he really wants to “fight and defend PMX and the Madani government”, being confrontational is not going to help his cause.

Communications is about the hearts and minds, not fighting people into submission.

However, it is early days and Hisyamuddin has only been in that position for barely a week. We’ll have to give it some time to see if he is effective or not.

Hisyamuddin Ghazali

But then again, all throughout the time J-Kom has been in existence, has it really been that effective?

With the hype of polls floating around, maybe rage-baiting is the tactic for J-Kom now.

If that is the case, then I feel it is quite sad because it reflects the fact that politics in Malaysia hasn’t really progressed and matured much. Sigh. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.