DailyPost 1018
HECKLING, TROLLING AND LYNCHING
The elevation of the general behaviour of the people in consonance with the modern civilisational levels and with the rules, tenets, customs and conventions of a robust democracy is the desired state. Might be we were moving in this direction for quite sometime with very few aberrations, but as we move forward we can see serious chasms in our movement in direction towards achieving individual, mass and societal behaviour, so to say in tune with the times. The advent of electronic media initially and then social media have a added a new voice to the masses, added to the complexity which is quite complex to unravel. Disturbing results.
Mob behaviour has been abhorred all throughout human history for the danger in entails and has been the cause of large numbers of unwarranted incidents worldwide which cannot be logically explained. Unfortunately, the mind of the mob which happened only these exceptional times has today become the mindset of a large number and variety of people. This is challenge of our times. The electronic and social media has been giving more than enough of an opportunity to practice this art.
The music, dance and movie format of the electronic media gave way to 24/7 news adding an inbuilt aggression for TRP further moving on to the talk show format and rest of the times comments, views and reactions to maintain the same fervour across the day. The more gullible of the lot are the most fixated to this medium. Heckling was not an unknown art in India, practiced once in while became the mainstay of every channel impacted the mindset of the management, the anchors, the participants and the audience. They started on the same page – the psychologically negative one.
Social Media soft and sweet as it started, godsend, connected the ones you lost on the way and also got the new ones you wanted to start a dialogue with so effortlessly that it was not treated as a technological marvel. Lots of ills slowly emerged, trolling was one serious one, completely changing the social fabric, where venom was spewed with impunity. WhatsApp then joined the bandwagon. Venom dispersal with a lighting speed, multimedia at times, manufactured as well, gave birth to a different type of lynching, premeditated to a level and orchestrated.
THERE IS A SERIOUS CONNECT BETWEEN OUR HYPERCONNECTED MULTIMEDIA EXISTENCE & SOCIALLY NEGATIVE BEHAVIOUR.
Sanjay Sahay