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.
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