India is a democratic country and freedom of speech is given to all, it may be the media or the public. Freedom of speech is great as it allows everyone and every social or political group to have its say. However, recent incidents show that certain political ideologies have hijacked social media, sometimes with the express support of the promoters of these media. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have been actively supporting leftist campaigners while muzzling right wing users in the pretext of `community standards’.
By Prathima.G.Kulkarni
Google, Facebook, Twitter and the News Channels are the major platforms where people look for information and answers. In this age of technology this process starts right from our formative years and continues through our adulthood. For almost every piece of information, views and opinions we depend on these platforms. As such it is becoming very important to understand whether the information we get is genuine or not. While both social and traditional media are saying they are trying their best to weed out fake news and propaganda in a bid to provide objective information the readers/viewers are often lost in a din of what can pass off as propaganda by factions, parties and pressure groups with vested interests. The leftists who have majorly shaped news and perceptions around the world are still very much active and even have a stranglehold over various media platforms.
Of late a term often used by news channels and social media is `pogrom’ and very often this term is associated with incidents whereHindus are the alleged perpetrators. For the uninitiated, it is important to understand what Pogrom means: “Pogrom is an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, aterm used to describe the atrocities committed on Jews in Russia or Eastern Europe”.
The torchbearers of the left, media and intellectuals included, seem to imply that the majority community(Hindu) carries out attacks on another religious community(Muslim) in the name of religious beliefs. The commentaries on mainstream TV, print publications and even social media tend to color violent events with communal narratives. While many mainstream media platforms like these support such narratives given their political leanings, social media tries to subjugate the views of those who try to make an objective analysis of the events. Some typical cases in point were the lynchings that were connected to cow slaughter or beef consumption.
A sentiment that has gained currency in India over the years is that” Only Hindus will do all things wrong and people from other communities can never do anything wrong or always the victims”. This is highlighted by our media very clearly. While Muslims or other communities burn vehicles, properties, pelt stones, shoot at public servants the events will never be highlighted in our papers or in social network.
Any such protests where in people have are suffering, major violence is happening and roads are blocked, slogans are announced that will sow fear or causes people to take matters into their own hands without going into the details of what the police and the State Government did to proactively prevent the incidents.
Why is it that the left-wingers want to take control of what is happening in these media networks? Any post, any video, any message or any image that says truth about them will be removed, blocked or the account will be suspended. It may be an individual account or a group account of the right wingers. There are so many incidents to prove that the above things are happening as we speak.
Op India, website, had posted an image of a girl who was physically abused. There was no vulgarity in the picture but still Facebook blocked it and the account was suspended. When Facebook representative was questioned, he said that that the picture will have a bad impact on the girl as she was getting abused and that was against their community standards. This sounds right when we think of this from the point girl’s point of view. But then they got to see the same picture uploaded by a different group ofpeople on their page with a different viewpoint and it wasn’t taken out.
Thanks to leftists, mentioning Jai Shri Ram or any Sanskrit words or Sanskrit Shlokas will be treated as hate messages on social media and will be blocked and the accounts will get suspended. If you question them further they will only say that everything will be cleared from the site but nothing really gets cleared. What is this community standard that Facebook mentions and blocks post or suspend the account? Community Standards are the rules for what content is and isn’t permitted on Facebook. But, is Facebook really doing justice to its community standards is anybody’s question.
Now, let’s talk about a movie trailer that appeared on YouTube. The movie Accidental Prime Minister was based on the acts committed by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Also, how they played their game keeping Manmohan Singh in the front. When the trailer was released on 11th January 2019, it was a trending video and yet it wasn’t found in the first place when searched. The first few videos included comments, discussions of the left-wingers on the way the movie was done and what was shown.
When we search for information on a person, first results of the search will be that of the left leaning personalities and the right leaning ones will be at the end or in different pages. This happens in all platforms irrespective of whether it is Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Google. Google head, Sundar Pichai was asked about Google being biased during a trial. He did not agree to it but the judge had all the information which proved that Google is biased.
Twitter is no less; Mahima Kaul who is the director of twitter in India and a known hater of Modi has tweeted lots against BJP government and Modi. We need to know the tweets that Mahima has posted to understand her standing with the left-wingers.
“After pussyfooting about recognizing Kasab as Paki, now they want access? I want to know more. Indian media get out of modi’s ass”.
“Bombs, quake, deaths are all second to Narendra Modi’s political ambitions. F**k aam aadmi”.
If these are the tweets from someone of her stature then there is no much difficulty in understanding the hatred that is present all across against our PM and the BJP government.If somebody had done similar tweeting about Sonia or Rahul Gandhi you can imagine what would have happened.
Referring to the above details should there be any set of rules to control the outrage and authority of the leftwing on the media? Definitely! If not controlled more incidents like Shaheenbagh and burning of East Delhi will continue. Facebook certainly does not have the right to block post or suspend accounts either of individuals or of groups unless they are criminal or terrorist elements. Measures should be taken to curb these influences and they should provide an equal footing to all. Just because a Hindu says “Jai Shri Ram” on his wall, how can it be considered as a hate speech and Urdu or Arabic slogans not be hate speech?
It’s time the Modi government acted.
