KRISH BOODHRAM
We need to pause and think about what social media is doing to us, what we are becoming and where we are heading with all this.
Show love, compassion and mercy
We like to think that we are a religious nation, that religion teaches us to love, and not to hate; to have compassion, not cruelty; to show mercy and not to chastise. Are we loving, compassionate and merciful? Is it okay to be loving, compassionate and merciful to some and not to others? Is this because we feel some are more worthy of our love, compassion and mercy. Have we become part-time compassionate and part-time chastisers?
Do not succumb to temptation
We are all aware of the media catchphrase: “If it bleeds, it leads”. It is no secret to anyone that social media thrives on controversies, on the sensational and, I’m really sorry to say, on gore. By default, social media favours contents that are likely to appeal to the baser instincts of legions of viewers who need their warped views of the world to be confirmed. If I try to create a video with what I am writing now and post on YouTube, I will hardly get a dozen views in months. Fate or call it algorithm will be against me. But if the content is islamophobic, hinduphobic, antisemitic, spews hatred and vitriol, promotes some unfounded conspiracy theories, you can bet your life that within hours it would have been viewed a few thousand times. Content creators are all too aware of this and are all too willing to satisfy viewer demands for increasingly spurious, polemical and damaging content.
Rights are for everyone
During the Roman era, citizens assembled at the Colosseum to entertain themselves by watching other human beings being mauled by famished beasts. Two thousand years later, internet users derive the same kind of sadistic pleasures from watching their fellow humans being trolled. Without any compunction, we binge on the public lynching via the internet of lawbreakers and people who have had the misfortune of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong people. Even the age of the offender has not been a deterrent. When someone commits an offence, our first instinct is to punish them. We feel we have the right to chastise. But do we really?
My appeal
Please do not create, view or share contents that can do more harm than good to a person, especially to a child. It’s wrong. Everyone should have the right to dignity and justice. Even a young offender. This is the very basis of civilization. Without love, compassion and mercy, the fabric of society is irreparably torn and we enter into utter chaos. Not all is lost yet. But it will be if we are not careful.
