When Humanity Goes Missing: The Case of Joginder and the Comment Section That Failed Him

When Humanity Goes Missing: The Case of Joginder and the Comment Section That Failed Him

On April 28, 2026, a 71-year-old man named Joginder went missing in the Taradale NE area of Calgary, Alberta.

This isn’t just another post on social media. This is someone’s father. Someone’s grandfather. A human being who disappeared without a phone, vulnerable, and in need of help.

The official details were clear:

Last seen: April 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Location: Taradale NE, Calgary
Description: 5’6”, 154 lbs, grey hair, brown eyes
Wearing: blue & white winter jacket, mittens, grey turban
Case #: CA26182669

A serious situation. The kind where community matters.

But instead of unity, what followed was something else entirely.

The Comment Section: A Case Study in Moral Failure

Under a missing person alert, where urgency and empathy should dominate, a number of individuals chose ridicule, racism, and outright cruelty.

Let’s be clear about who said what.

Jewel Thiessen: “Couldn’t you just smell your way to him?”
Mike El: “Maybe he crashed his carpet into a tree.”
Jared Vader: shared an image mocking turbans with offensive language
David Boucock: “He recieved his monthly cheque and went back to his real country…”
Paulo Arge: “Why is he even in Canada?”
Eddie Coon: “Maybe his uber bike got stuck in the bushes”
Sen Tavos: “He’s probably trucking on US highway”
Skyler Fournier-Constantin: “Good i hope you find him in the bush dead 👍👍”
Dave Botan: “Did they check the closest call center?”
Pat Myazz: “Follow the shit smell.”
Pete Myles: “Hopefully he went back home overseas where he belongs”
Travis Sweet: “Bhupinder Singh We don’t have goats for parents, but go off goat groper 🤣 Hope the fat old pedo suffered horribly alone in his last moments”

These are not “edgy jokes.”
They are not “free speech in action.”

They are examples of dehumanization.

The Psychology Behind It

What we’re seeing here isn’t random.

It reflects a mix of:

Deindividuation: people lose accountability behind screens
Prejudice conditioning: stereotypes replacing basic humanity
Moral disengagement: convincing themselves the target “deserves” it
Projection and insecurity: attacking identity to reinforce their own

Ironically, one commenter—Jassa Singh—actually pointed toward a deeper societal truth about majority anxiety and shifting cultural identity. But that level of reflection was drowned out by noise.

Because reflection requires effort.
Cruelty doesn’t.

What Makes This Worse

This wasn’t a political debate.
This wasn’t a controversial issue.

This was a missing elderly man.

And still, people chose:

Racism over empathy
Mockery over urgency
Hate over basic decency

Even Skyler Fournier-Constantin’s comment openly wishing death—and Travis Sweet’s comment adding explicit dehumanization—cross from ignorance into something far darker.

On the other side, when someone actually called out the behavior, the response only proved the point further. A reply telling Selin Nangir to “go back to your country” with added slurs shows how quickly accountability is met with more hate instead of reflection.

That’s not just “bad taste.”
That’s a complete erosion of empathy.

The Few Voices of Sanity

Amid the chaos, a few individuals stood out:

Jas Chahal: “Just wow the hateful comments. Another Canadian value I wasn’t aware of”
Joe G Alexis: “Look at all this wonderful Canadian culture in the comments section”
Selin Nangir: “Shame on all you poor excuses of ‘men’ in these comments. You’re all heartless…”

These responses highlight the obvious:
This behavior isn’t normal—it’s a failure of it.

The Bigger Issue

When a society can’t even come together for a missing senior, something is wrong at a foundational level.

Because this isn’t about politics.
It’s about baseline humanity.

If the reaction to a vulnerable, elderly man going missing is to turn him into a punchline, then the issue isn’t just “online toxicity.”

It’s empathy collapse.

Final Thought

Joginder is still a person.
Not a stereotype. Not a target. Not a joke.

Every second matters in missing person cases.
Every share can help.

But when posts like this get flooded with hate, they don’t just fail the individual—they weaken the entire purpose of community alerts.

And that raises a serious question:

When someone goes missing… and empathy goes missing with them… what exactly are we becoming?

The Immoral List