The Media Distaste

Opinion | There is rapid increase in popularity of IGTV and Youtube creators whose entire gimmick is to take offence on any trivial incident and abuse the person they deem responsible. The new genre led by likes of “Hindustani bhau” is increasingly becoming popular and encouraging others to step in and to curse there hearts out on social media. The then joy of watching someone abuse a person which most of us hate or don’t care of, is fun initially. But makes me wonder, have we reached a point where just someone cursing makes the content watchable? And why such genre even exists in our country in which hate and vulgarity are sold causally?

Initially these videos were targeted mostly on Pakistani’s, which were watched and shared as generic video of Pakistani hate we all have been collectively sharing for decades. With all the views, likes and attention, these “creators” started looking for material within the country and it wasn’t hard to fetch. The material 14.2% + of India was already allocated, all they had to do was to pick a random incident, make an abusing video and ask them to leave the country and join Pakistan. This resonated exponentially with there audience as they have been feeling the same way, but didn’t have any strong reason or courage to tell these 14.2% of India by themselves. Now they had someone not only doing what they wanted, but what a job the guy was doing. With popularity skyrocketing and right on there side, they started looking towards left. A nationalist government in the centre and issues surrounding JNU, liberals and leftists were already labelled antinational. All needed was for these “influencers” to amplify the hate and to abuse the left because they have a different ideology, they think and live differently then how our "creators" do. Film makers and actors were the next target. A single scene, remark or comment was enough for them to get offended, and why won’t they, them taking offence was selling and was generating millions of views.

But the former were all to easy and irrelevant compared to the next. Comedians, the only relevant opposition left in the country currently, rightly said (while joking) by Tanmay Bhatt. The stand ups were sweet heaven for our creators. There was just so much offence to take that they had liberty to get picky. Overwhelmed by so much material for there “art” they started spreading dirt without any limitations or boundaries.

The sheer tragedy of this country is anything that sells no matter how dangerous or damaging it is, is encouraged and advertised by the stake holders. Hindustani Bhau entering the show Big boss was pure example of this culture. Agreed he had a fan base, and people wanted to see him, but this encourages the genre, and presents itself as a promising option to achieve fame before the young audience of the show and the “influencer”.

Example of following the career path is now detained Shubham Mishra. Mishra a close partner of Hindustani Bhau, (as they share passion for same art form) threatened comedian Agrima Joshua of raping her and her family for a joke about a Quora post about the not yet existing statue of a hindu king Shivaji Mahraj. And this isn’t the first time such threats are issued, they have been an integrated part of the genre since its dawn. The only difference was that they were made against Pakistani women or mothers and sisters of their offenders, which their audience found funny, entertaining and satisfying. Even rape threats to Agrima Joshi is justified by some, and she continue to get harassed and threatened in her dms. Jokes on religion and politics have always been uncharted territory for most of the comedians in this country, but should it be the case in a democracy? Yes, the jokes are mostly targeted on Hinduism, but why are we so concerned about of some random comedian making a joke, while our politicians and media are doing the same for the other side, with much larger audience, and without pretext of it being comedy. They are jokes, if you don’t find them funny, don’t laugh! Its as simple as that.

In all, the content consumption of some young nationalist of the country has spiralled down to disgust. There encouragement and likes have resulted in open rape threats on social media. The existence of such genre is the reflection of some culture and mindset our nation houses. I hope the Mishra incident has been an eyeopener for some, and people like him and Hindustani bhau be forgotten with the genre in the shithole where it deserves to be.