I must admit that I love to watch Thai advertisements. They are really creative and even educational at times. The recent one that I watched was about a landlady and her “unreasonable” actions towards the tenants. In one scene, she even threw and broke the weighing scales used by a tenant. Unfortunately, these “unreasonable” actions were videoed by some passerby and uploaded into the various social media platforms. Many criticisms / comments were posted and without exceptions were negative towards the landlady. Then the scenes turned to show the truth about what the landlady was doing. Her breaking of the weighing scales was because of her warning to the tenant not to use dishonest scales. As he did not learn from the warning, she threw and broke those scales. She was actually a kind, helpful and honest person who went around to help the poor and needy. Contrast that with the portrayal in social media platforms. What you see is not what is reality.

The various social platforms are dangerous places. Used correctly they are good platforms for interactions with friends or even work. Most times, however, they are already being misused. They become sources of misinformation. People forwarding information without verifying them, causing even greater confusion. It is worse when the one forwarding the messages is someone of repute. There are those whose whole life story can be found in their social media account. All the laws, PDPA whatsoever, will not help you when someone wants to use that knowledge about you for dubious purposes. It is a dangerous world out there, both physical and cyber. Be careful my friends. As I am writing this. I saw messages coming in about a former military colleague passing on. All kind of condolences were pouring in. Then someone called the family and found that it was not true. It is a cruel and terrible prank by someone.

Brothers and sisters, be wise. Do not trust any information via such platforms without verifying. Do not forward any message without verifying. Well, you get my drift.

God bless,
In Christ’s service,

Barry Leong

我得承认我喜欢看泰国的广告。这些广告非常的有创意，有时甚至产生教育性的作用。最近我看到一则有关一个女地主如何无理的对待她的租户。有一幕是她摔破租户用的秤。很不幸的，这一个无理的动作被路过的人拍了下来，然后上载在几个社交媒体里。这导致女地主受到了一面倒的负面评论。接下来的广告乃是播映了女地主所作的真实画面。原来她将租户的秤摔破，是因为租户屡次不听劝，使用欺诈不诚实的秤。因为他不理会警告，所以她就将秤给摔破。其实，她是一个善良，乐于助人和诚实的人。她常帮助周边的穷人和需要帮助的人。这与在社交媒体所看到的样子是判若两人。你所看到的未必是真实的。

社交媒体是一个危险的地方。若使用对的话是一个可以与朋友互动甚至工作上好的平台。可惜的是，在大多数的时间里，它们被错误的使用。它们成为了伪资讯的温床。人们转发这些资讯之前从不先核实，这造成了更大的混乱。更糟的是所转发的信息是有关某人的声誉。有许多人将自己一生的故事上传在自己的社交媒体的账号上。若有人借用有关你的资料从事非法的活动，所有的法律，包括了个人隐私保护法令，也无能为力。我的朋友，你应当小心为妙。当我在写这些的时候，我收到了一则有关我前战友去世的讯息。这导致了很多的慰问如水一样涌进来。之后有人就联系这一个家庭才发现这不是真的。这是被某人故意搞出来十分残酷和恶劣的恶作剧。

弟兄姐妹，我们应当满有智慧。我们不要在这些社交媒体里相信还没有被核实过的任何讯息。我们也不要转发任何还没有经过核实的短信。很好，你已经明白我的意思了。

上帝赐福，
主里同工的，

Barry Leong