Viral Utterances of Grief and Empathy: A Case Study of Two Major Moments of Social Shock in Bangladesh (2024–25)

Abstract

In the modern era of accessible digital technology, certain spontaneous utterances of common folks, spoken in moments of distress, moral dilemma, or crisis, reach wide audiences through social media like Facebook and become viral expressions of collective emotion, grievance, or solidarity. This study examines how four viral utterances from two major moments of social shock in Bangladesh, which happened in July 2024 (student uprising regarding a political issue) and in 2025 (the Milestone School aircraft tragedy), became viral and transformed into symbols of social justice, human rights advocacy, and public consciousness. Using discourse analysis, cultural semiotics, and affect theory, the study analyzes how expressions such as “Pani lagbe, pani?”, “Why have you killed my son?” “They are my children too...” and “I knew you would come” became markers of moral courage, solidarity, and public grief. To complement the qualitative analysis, a short questionnaire was distributed among 86 university students to explore how these utterances were interpreted and how users perceive the role of Facebook in transforming private emotions into public symbols. Responses on a 5-point Likert scale reveal that participants overwhelmingly viewed these utterances as expressions of empathy, resistance to inequality, and calls for social justice rather than mere personal cries of distress. The findings demonstrate that viral speech acts in Bangladesh’s digital public sphere can mobilize emotional communities, amplify marginalized voices, and contribute to broader discourses on human rights and peacebuilding.