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We are witnessing a strange paradox; two seemingly contradictory phenomena running parallel to each other. On the one hand, we are busy putting people, our chosen icons, on a pedestal and worshipping them, notwithstanding their all too obvious flaws. We won’t countenance a word said against our ‘heroes’ and would pounce on anyone, who is audacious enough to speak a word even remotely critical of them, like a pack of wolves. On the other, we are also busy demolishing our established heroes and yanking them off their pedestals, finding imaginary flaws in their character that cannot be backed by facts.
This writer got a taste of the first when he posted a rather innocuous, tongue-in-cheek comment on a Facebook post by a Dhoni fan. All hell broke loose as his fellow travelers took turns posting abusive, below-the-belt remarks that had absolutely nothing to do with the comment as such and were propelled merely by the fact that someone had the gumption to question their ‘hero’. “How dare you speak against ‘Mahi’?” was the general refrain of those who jumped into the ring, together. The tone and tenor of their attack gave the impression that they would have physically assaulted this writer had the battlefield been the real world and not the virtual world of Facebook. There was no point arguing with them or pointing out the well documented cases of ‘Mahi’ putting his business interests over the interests of the team and playing favourites in selecting the team when he was the all-powerful captain of Team India, who had the unstinted backing of the all-powerful BCCI President N Srinivasan who, on his part, put the interests of his IPL franchise above the interests of the Indian team. Nor did it make sense to invite attention to the startling revelations during the course of the Supreme Court ordered Justice Lodha Commission inquiry into the affairs of BCCI. Some of the comments were so provocative that even a normally patient and tolerant person like yours truly felt tempted, for a brief while, to give it back. But given the mood of the ‘Mahi’ army, doing so would have further vitiated the atmosphere and brought more venom. Sample this and you will get the drift of what the war of words was like. A man, who looked young enough to be the son of this columnist, posted this in response to the latter’s comment. “Uncle, tum to shakl se hi ‘gxxxu’ lagte ho”!! The wise thing thus was to quit the ring and save oneself from any further embarrassment on a public platform.
We must keep in mind that it’s not a one-off incident. Nor is it only about Dhoni. One can see variations of the same no-holds-barred battles in respect of ‘heroes’ in every other field. If you want to get a taste of what it is like, just try posting something critical about Narendra Modi or Naveen Patnaik, Amitabh Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan and so on. You won’t have a place to hide as hordes of worshippers would pounce on you in unison.
Those who are part of the rapidly burgeoning social media crowd got a taste of the other simultaneous phenomenon – the abuse and vilification of national icons – this last Gandhi Jayanti Day. The day that should have a been an occasion to remember the Mahatma and rededicate ourselves to the ideals and values he lived – and died – for instead witnessed a virtual tsunami of the most vile and obnoxious comments about the great man all through the day, questioning and abusing everything from his politics to his alleged sexual perversion. For many of those led the virulent attack on the Father of the Nation, the man who killed him – Nathuram Godse – was the real ‘Mahatma’, who saved the nation from the from further disaster by eliminating the ‘impostor’ before it was too late !!
There is, however, one thing common to both phenomena: abuse. The only way the ‘hero worshippers’ as well as ‘hero busters’ can respond is by pouring out venom and vitriol. No one really knows when exactly we became a nation of intolerant hate mongers. But anecdotal evidence suggests it began with the onset of the Age of the Social Media and multiplied many times over in the years since then. If this trend is not reversed, one shudders to think what things would be like in another decade’s time.
Hate will kill India’s soul !!
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
