Hate Speech In The Time Of Social Media

-

 

 

It is always interesting to travel by train. Everyone is in a rush, but we don’t know what is the urgency all about. Initially, I tried to reach the train station or airport well in advance. After some time, I also got infected with the habit of reaching the station in the final moments.


I reached the station to catch the train, but there was no pantry car. So, I had to fetch food from the station for dinner. I boarded my train from Bhubaneswar for Muniguda. I always prefer upper side berth whenever I [lan to travel alone. I placed my luggage with a bit of satisfaction since I had made it to the station just in time. I was trying to read my book, which happens to be a traveler’s best companion. Suddenly, I found one middle-aged person on the train. It looked like he has been doing well in his life. He was busy looking at his mobile. Out of curiosity, I tried to look at his screen secretly/discreetly. I was surprised to see that this guy was busy spreading hate messages through Facebook. I wanted to interact with him, but he stopped me from talking to him about all the hate messages he was forwarding.

This gentleman was busy propagating Islamophobia and spreading incorrect facts on social media. I felt it was way below my dignity to indulge in any discourse with him. At present, we have a massive load of information floating around us. People are accepting news reports based on biased and morphed sources. This leaves a lot of room for hatred and misconceptions. How can we engage with the public, considering the misconceptions regarding religion or beliefs? As a society, have we lost the ability to have genuine and healthy disagreements?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

lock down story

-
Image
  Couple of weeks ago, I went to nearby electric repair shop in my neighborhood, because my emergency light is not working. The technician, looked the all parts of light carefully, meantime I was trying to understand his situation during lockdown, he shared in those days his shop was completely shut down like others, I hesitantly, inquired about his livelihood sources and how he had managed his day to day expense? He shared, sir there was no option but I had to sell fruits in the streets, and that was the only source of survival for him and his family, after unlocking he is only able to earn around 30% of income, what he used to earn before Pandemic. After almost 20 minutes, he said he will not able to repair my light. I offered him money for his Labour but he refused to take and gently responded Sir, I haven't done your work, how can I take money, I tried hard but he was reluctant. With his gesture and dedication, I was thoroughly impressed....
Read more

Why I Believe Birsa Munda Remains Relevant For Indigenous Identity Around The World(15 November 1875 – 9 June 1900)

-
Image
Birsa Munda was an indigenous leader and a folk hero, belonging to the Munda tribe who was behind the Millenarian movement that arose in Jharkhand during the British Raj. This made him an important figure in the history of the Indian independence movement. Birsa Munda is named with great respect as one of the freedom fighters in the Indian struggle for independence against British colonialism. His achievements in the freedom struggle became even greater considering he accomplished this before he turned 25. Birsa’s devotion to his people was such that he was almost revered as God by his followers. By the time he was in his 20s, his activities in present-day Jharkhand had already begun to worry the British establishment to a considerable extent. He was finally caught by the British on February 3, 1900, when he was only 25 years old. He died soon afterwards under mysterious circumstances on June 9, 1900, at Ranchi Jail. Indigenous people from the rest of Asia or Africa hav
Read more

Prof. Rizwan Qaiser: My teacher friend and mentor (1960-2021)

-
Image
He was not only my teacher but mentor, guide, and one of my great admirers, for what I have been doing after finishing my study? That was his personality, he was never hesitant to give respect and dignity, no matter who are you? What kind of relationship is with him? My personal connection with him was far before I meet him personally, I am basically from rural India, where I studied till my graduation, we had kind of serious news reading habit in our family, and my father also guided us to read the editorial pages including writing on social or political issues. Those days, Rizwan Sb, used to write for Hindustan, Hindi, since, I was a regular reader, that was interesting for me to understand the social-political aspect of the marginalized social group on which he usually writes. When I got admission in MA- History in 2003 at Jamia Millia Islamia, that was transformative and dream comes true for me to study at Central University, at the same time I was very nervous in the Capital o
Read more