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FRANKLY SPEAKING
Swinging with Twitter and Facebook
Let’s learn to laugh at ourselves
Union Information
Technology and
Communication Minister
Kapil Sibal’s recent
misplaced thoughts and pithy and
biting comments on today’s rajas,
maharajas and maharanis by the new
class of young vocal Indians on the
social networks Twitter, Facebook
and Google show how serious the
mental gaps are between officialdom
and young professionals in the
country.
According to Minister Sibal , he
has over the past three months,
failed in his efforts to convince
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to stop
“defamatory” and “inflammatory”
content before it is uploaded on
their social networking websites.
The minister’s provocation, as stated
on New York Times Ink blog, is a
Facebook page that mocks at
Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
There is also satirical outpourings
against PM Manmohan Singh which
go under the label of Yum Yum
Singh. The youthful website world
has its own way of looking at Indian
happenings and non-happenings.
I do not approve of comments which provoke religious sensitivities of one community or the other. I shall also not be party to any malicious and defamatory comments against honourable persons. But satire and humour are different ball games and they have to be enjoyed at that level. India’s minorities are very much part of the country’s rainbow culture in diversity. We need to appreciate that the new generation Indians do not relish the sycophancy culture often seen with ruling establishment functionaries. They feel merit suffers in an atmosphere of sycophancy. This is very true. What the social media network users do is to share their feelings with like-minded persons and hold out a mirror before the powers-that-be who see India selectively either in terms of personality cults or dynasty angularities. In fact, some of India’s problems flow from sycophancy tendencies which follow the gospel of three monkey mantra of “see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil” against the “masters”.
Barring certain awfully silly
comments, I appreciate the
explosion in the social media
network. It knows how to laugh and
mock at some of these “monkey
tricks”, probably with a view to
bringing about the correctives in the
system and the persons at the helm
or outside of it.
The social media network actually fills a vital gap in the functioning of both print and electronic media which often tends to conduct itself on a narrow patronage basis which is often seen as an extension of the existing political culture. The Indian media, for that matter, has still much ground to cover. There are several untied ends, both within and without. Muddled thinking, misplaced zeal, lack of objectivity, absence of broader understanding, arrogance and onetrack approach make the media as flawed as other democratic organs.
through presentation of the widest
possible spectrum of thought and
analysis, they create an adequate
reservoir of insights into the social
process. The media may produce
entertainment and sell merchandise,
but if, in addition, they do not
create a rich market-place of ideas
and serious information, they fail in
a primary function. In primitive and
unchanging times, limited public
knowledge and insulation from
alternative ideas might have been
tolerable. But for a dynamic society,
especially a democracy in a rapidly
growing world, a lack of diversity in
fact and thought leaves a population
partially blinded: people will have
defective understanding with which
to cope with new circumstances.
Diversity and richness in the media
are not ornaments of a democracy
but essential elements for survival.”
The responsibility of all forms of the media is to inform the people and make them realize the wrongs and rights of men, matters and issues. It is this “input” into public awareness that finally makes a difference in the quality of democracy and society. The social media websites too full a vital gap within the overall functioning of the traditional media. There is a growing awareness among all segments of the population, including website users. Every section of society has to find its space to express its view-points. Well, the battle of ideas and communication as well as the urge for sharing thoughts and experience have to continue. This is the only way to demolish mental barriers and past prejudices. Notwithstanding occasional distortions, social media network has eked out a place for itself in today’s information and communication explosion as well as increasing human consciousness of what is right and what is wrong. In this changing complex scenario, the Indian ministerial class as well as intellectuals have to learn to be honest with themselves and the new generation people. One lesser acknowledged Indian tragedy is the lengthening shadow of intellectual dishonesty. Pretensions, sycophancy, fallacious reasoning and absence of scientific temperament are known curse for any civilized society. The Indian intelligentsia too has been politicised and they play an increasingly partisan role in which the truth is the first casualty. Minister Sibal needs to look
at the social communication
network in a larger
perspective of certain harsh
and sickening politicoeconomic
and social
realities. He would also do
well to take due note of the
observation of the US State
Department which says that
“freedom of expression
applies equally to the
internet as it does in the
real world”.
As for the quality of
content, the Minister need
not make the website
working a prestige issue.
Instead, he ought to first
learn to laugh at critical or
silly comments and allow
the network users to find
their own level-playing field
and learn from their own
interactions
Democracy flourishes best when the thinking class leads the people
correctly and puts truth, and only
unbiased truth, before the nation.
The intelligentsia has to address themselves to the attainment of excellence in national life. Democracy is a system founded on morality and it cannot be left to the manipulations of crooks, scoundrels, blackmarketers and black money power walas. The intelligentsia cannot and should not be indifferent to the ugly facts of development of modern India. They need to participate actively in national affairs. Only then can a qualitative thrust be ensured in the polity. The growing popularity of the social media networking needs to be viewed in the light of above facts. Perhaps the time has come to pull down all the ivory towers of intellectuals who have left the field free for second or third rate thinkers or false prophets who turn the system to enslave it for their personal needs and designs. Be that as it may. Minister Sibal needs to look at the social communication network in a larger perspective of certain harsh and sickening politico-economic and social realities. He would also do well to take due note of the observation of the US State department which says that “freedom of expression applies equally to the internet as it does in the real world”. As for the quality of content, the Minister need not make the website working a prestige issue. Instead, he ought to first learn to laugh at critical or silly comments and allow the network users to find their own level-playing field and learn from their own interactions. Any idea of censorship will boomerang against the establishment and lead its masters to the dustbin of history. The lessons from the emergency should be crystal clear even to those who wish to serve their masters loyally and faithfully! | ||||||||
Markanday Katju