Rohtak sisters, Shenaz and the perils of hashtag activism
The jury was still out on the curious case of the Rohtak sisters, when social media discovered another opportunity to indulge in a bit of armchair activism and express virtual solidarity with Shenaz Treasurywala who seemed to be making the most of the abiding sentiment post the Uber rape incident. Days later, actor Shweta Prasad Basu posted an open letter online, trashing the media for its irresponsible reportage based on what she says, or hearsay, mostly picked up from unconfirmed sources on the digital platform. She released the letter on twitter, where a couple of months ago, she had been trending for being arrested for prostitution charges. The three incidents, with plenty of precedents, raise some pertinent questions about hashtag activism and the perils of indiscriminate sharing.
The Rohtak Sisters' rise was as spectacular as their fall. The original video and the subsequent ones that have surfaced since then, decimating their claims of bravado, were all posted online. And here is the problem. The applause has been as thunderous as the desecration. When the first video went viral, no one really raised questions about its authenticity or the motive of the girls - till the counter videos surfaced. Again, no one seems to pause and reflect on the timing and the misogynist tone of the videos (pseudo feminist wave, says the super in one of the videos) either. These counter videos are being shared indiscriminately on social media and aggregator sites - that they are too slick and convenient to be a case of independent, investigative reportage, and smack of caste and regressive gender politics, does not seem to bother anyone.
On Monday, the court okayed a polygraph test to be conducted on both the girls and the boys who were assaulted in the video. Whatever be the outcome of the ongoing investigations, the incident has unfortunately dealt a massive blow to the cause of women's rights and empowerment already. And social media, which had made sheroes of the two girls, has moved on to the next big trend of the day, or found something more contentious and topical to share. Shenaz Treasurywala's open letter to "powerful men" went viral. It was shared, retweeted, dissected, debated… till it emerged that it could all have been just a part of her promotional strategy for her upcoming film. Unfortunately for Shenaz, the controversial letter outlasted the film at the theatres, though she has asked why her mom being groped should be linked to her promoting a rom com. Why indeed. But for those who had so passionately shared the letter and argued for and against it, it was time to hide behind the timeline. After all, who would want to admit to have been had by some canny PR strategist? As for Shweta, the actress was swept in and out by the ebb and flow of public sentiment whipped up by retweets of damaging reports. And she is justified in being indignant about it. The universe of insta sharing does not encourage reflection, introspection, measured discourses that are weighed on pros and cons. Most importantly, it does not encourage any reflection on consequences, unless there is political vendetta involved.
Which is also why, during the hysteria over the Delhi gang rape case or the Shakti Mills rape case, cyber loons had a field day posting and sharing information about the survivors online, hoping to roil the waters some more. The eagerness to appropriate, be identified with and endorse anything that is viewed as "trendy" and generally fits with one's larger view of life and the cult of hashtag activism is perhaps creating bigger challenges in the way of the issues that the medium could actually help resolve. Whatever be her actual intent, Shenaz's letter for instance, could have actually re-ignited the debate on sexual violence. But eventually it became more about her ill-informed and poorly crafted letter than the issue itself. But for the few hours that she was in "circulation", she became an activist. That a person's self worth or sense of identity is tied to the number of hits, shares, retweets that one generates on social media, has graver consequences, too. Even as you read this, a certain Mr Biswas is being questioned for what some believe could be a case of a zealous hashtag activist taking himself too seriously, or believing that he could change the world. One virtual beheading at a time.