Applause and Facebook Like Button

(Baonghean) - In 2013, the Ig Nobel Prizes (a parody of the Nobel Prize) were announced for 10 achievements that "first make people laugh, then make them think." Among them, the Peace Prize was awarded to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for making "applause in public illegal," and the country's police for "arresting a one-armed man for clapping."

Generally, applause expresses agreement, appreciation, support... However, applause does not always retain its value and expressive intent. There was a time when applause rang out during a symphony concert, causing the conductor to frown. There was a time when applause rang out so loudly that it distracted the shooter. Applause is sometimes also a way for people to "gently chase away" someone who talks too much on stage.

I once sat in a music program with only a few hundred people in the audience, in a small enough auditorium. That night, the singer sang the last song when Hanoi night passed 11 o'clock, the singer bowed but the long, resounding applause of the audience kept him there and while the band shook their heads to leave, the singer still stayed on stage to sing one more song, thanking the audience for their appreciation.

Sometimes when watching a TV show, I feel sorry for the MC. Some MCs hoarsely call on the audience to clap their hands in support, but the response is only a dull sound. Blaming the audience is one thing, but sometimes the performers or MCs are too ambitious about the applause. There are singers who, after each verse of a song, shout out to the audience, pleading: "Clap your hands, everyone."

That night, the Hanoi Opera House was hosting a Liveshow by a singer who specialized in singing lyrical music. I sat next to a woman who was helpless in restraining her child's mischief. At that moment, applause rang out in the auditorium. The mother immediately said to her child: "Look, is he singing well? Clap your hands." The child seemed to have found new joy. He clapped his hands and said something unclear. While the auditorium was quietly following the singer's lyrics, the boy remembered the applause from earlier. Suddenly, he raised his hands and clapped loudly, clapping unconsciously. In the small auditorium of the Hanoi Opera House, a child's clapping was enough to attract everyone's attention. Suddenly, there was applause, from sparse to loud. The boy was even more excited. Occasionally, he raised his hands and clapped, feeling delighted when everyone clapped along with him. Surely many people, when clapping following the child's lead, wondered: "What's so good about this part that they're clapping?" But whatever, everyone else clapped, so I clapped along to get the momentum going.

Nowadays, the birth of Facebook with the “sacred” like button is also likened to a real-life clap. There are likes that show respect, agreement, and come from the heart of the person doing it. However, there are also many netizens who like like like the audience in the grand theater, dragged into the movement without knowing that it originated from a child clapping, mechanically?!

Viet Thinh