We are the mob and the mob is us: Apurva Asrani dissects trolling
Social media is a tough nut to crack, especially today with the world so polarised into "haters"and "supporters". You're either for or against, and there is a complete absence of nuance or debate.
Also, I find it difficult to bring both logic and feeling into a 140-character tweet. Often much is lost in translation and we have easily misunderstood tweets being ambushed by all and sundry.
I remember when I tweeted about "loudspeakering" of any religion, I got trolled for a week by some "liberals". I was called all sorts of names when I have only always stood for secular values.
When I tweeted for people to have the choice to eat beef, I was trolled by some "right-wingers" who called me anti-national and asked me to go to Pakistan.
On both occasions, I was just expressing a feeling, nowhere was it etched in stone. I had hoped in fact for a civil debate that may have had the power to change my mind. But all I got to see was a messy fight between polarised parties on my timeline.
This phenomenon kind of reminds me of those gladiator movies, where everyone cheers for a bloody fight.
My question at the end of every Twitter fight is, does anyone really care for the victim or for the cause? Or was the outrage for pure entertainment?
We are the mob and the mob is us. Left-wing, right-wing or in the centre, what difference does it make?
Aren’t we all just looking for a fight since we’re always right and the others fake? Not thoughts or feelings, but trending hashtags tell us where to draw daggers, and how deep.
And before we hit the jugular, we are wowed by another trend, another bend, and we unflinchingly take the leap.
Dog thrown from a roof, child fallen into a well, Valentine villains volley, kittens rescued from hell.
Perverted politicians exposed, potholes all the way; #SelfieWithMamma is trending; Smile, its Mother's Day.
Then there’s #climatechange, #harassment, #feminism and #gayrights.
Like bloodhounds we wait on standby for an invisible god to "trend" the next fight. 140-character zombies will then rise on two sides. Each will uphold an idea of "truth" that's either black or white.
Their truth is "the" truth. They have no time for nuance. Craven web-warriors will turn into lynch mobs, dancing in a deathly digital trance.
"Slam", "demolish", "destroy"; headlines appear to provoke outrage.
Hypnotised by clever click-bait, we are programmed to spew hate.
Often a stray opinion will wander into this curfew of manufactured truth, seeking no alliance with either black or white, and with original thoughts to boot. But contradictions will be silenced and trolled with damning labels. And if it endures, persists and kicks back, of a new hashtag it may be found able.
The stray thought will then be co-opted, a following of its own it will make. And when it starts to believe its own legend, fast fingers will claw at its facade.
After all, we are the mob and the mob is us.
(A version of this post first appeared on Apurva Asrani's Facebook page.)
Also read:Dangers of opinions manufactured on Twitter and Facebook