A cautionary tale of Internet times
- By Wu Yixue
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E-mail China Daily, August 5, 2014
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Three years ago, a girl named Guo Meimei sent a deadly blow to the charity society's credibility by claiming herself general manager of the Red Cross Commerce and flaunting money and luxury goods online. |
Given the charity's lack of transparency about how it uses the donations it receives, the investigations conducted by the charity itself, which it said found Guo had nothing to do with the society, failed to dispel people's doubts and she continued to be associated with the charity in people's minds.
The public has been owed a credible investigation into the scandal from an independent and authoritative third party. Now the police have confirmed that Guo had no relationship with the Red Cross Society of China and she has admitted her claims and online behavior were simply publicity stunts to attract attention to herself.
The police also said that Guo had confessed that the story that she had lost a total of 260 million yuan ($42 million) in a Macao casino had been fabricated to promote a gambling website and she was not that wealthy as her income came from a few commercial shows and from her sex-for-money activities.
So the police investigation has revealed that unlike what people previously imagined, Guo neither has an "unidentified source" of enormous wealth nor has some backers with "influence", at least according to the investigation so far.
From the farcical beginning to its sorry end, the rise and fall of Guo Meimei is proving to be something of a morality tale, and Guo will pay a heavy price for her behavior.
However, we should realize that without Guo's desire for publicity and people's willingness to grant her it, and without the media fanning the flames of controversy and people's anger at the widening wealth gap, there would have been no space for Guo Meimei to fall into crime and disgrace.
It is the Internet that both made Guo's farce and broke it. People should be careful not to act on such online whims.
The author is a senior writer with China Daily.
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