Prove that we are not a racist nation

I shoot videos for a living and I’ve been doing that for more than a decade now. The kind of videos I like shooting are the non-fiction kind where everything is supposedly real.

News reports, talk shows, magazine shows and documentaries, they all fall under the non-fiction category of video. And since its suppose to be real, no manipulation should be involved.

However, one thing that I’ve learned is that reality is just a perception and there can never be any content production with absolutely no manipulation at all.

I’m not the first person to say this. In fact, this has been a debate that has raged on almost as long as video and film has been used to document reality.

If you are a cameraman, just by the fact that you have the power of choice in what to shoot and what not to shoot is manipulation already.

If you are a reporter, director or interviewer, then you can decide whether to ask a specific question to an interviewee or not to. There is manipulation again.

If you a video editor, then you will have the power to include in the video the different shots of your selection, edit out interview segments that you don’t like, etc. Manipulation it is.

As you can see, the video creators actually have a lot of power and control in how the ‘reality’ of the video is portrayed to an audience.

So it all boils down to their intention and how they can actually portray it as if everything is presented as honestly and truthfully as possible.

That is on the part of those responsible for creating the videos. Then, there is also the other party, the ones who appear in the video like the interviewees and subjects being shot.

Name me one person who, when is put in front of a rolling camera, can act as natural as he or she would when there is no camera recording his every move and word.

There will be those who get very intimidated, nervous and shy that you can hardly get anything out of him or her while everything is being shot.

There will also be those who become a little bit too self-assured and confident in front of the camera that they can seem like they are putting on a show for people to see.

And, well, you can’t deny that there those who are just very natural. But these people are few and far between. I have yet to meet one while on all of my shoots.

Also, nobody wants to look bad in front of an audience. So, many people would be self-conscious about how they look, what they do and what they see.

Now this brings me to the matter regarding the recent viral video that is making its rounds on the Internet. The one of the fake casting call that turned out to be a test of Malaysia’s racist attitude.

I like the video. I really do. It gave me a warm and tingling sensation inside. And just like how it made so many Malaysians feel like there is hope for our multi-racial country, I felt the same way.

I think that the filmmakers had good intentions and I guess at a time when racial tension is being brandied around in the media so much, the country needs something like the video to come out.

But I can’t help wondering how many people weren’t included in the final video - those who were actually interviewed were willing to utter racial slurs just to get a part in a film?

I can’t help wondering if those who were left out of the final video were as engaging to actually be compiled into another ‘evil twin’ video.

I also can’t help wondering if the people who were in the video weren’t just worried that they would be recorded uttering such negativity and they would have said in the absence of cameras.

It’s very scary to think this, and quite sad too. It just means that over the years and all the things that have happened, I might have turned into something I have never wanted to be - jaded.

You know what? I don’t want to doubt the filmmakers and neither do I want to doubt the sincerity of the people who appear in the video so staunch against racism.

So please, Malaysians. Prove me wrong for feeling so jaded. Prove to me that there are more Malaysians who are against racism and for equal rights than not.