Saturday, 03 October 2020 | Paritosh Kimothi | Dehradun
THE OTHER SIDE
A well known doctor in Kerala was accused of negligence when a girl with health complications died while being operated upon at his orthopaedic clinic. Though a complaint was also lodged against him, it is believed by many in his fraternity that online backlash directed at him on the social media made the 37-year old doctor take the extreme step of commiting suicide.
Of late, malevolent idiocy has become alarmingly popular especially on some television news channels and social media. It is the driving force of many on both sides of an argument- those claiming to be right wingers and those claiming to be left wingers or Congress supporters. This proclivity bodes ill for the society and the nation because it is actually a diversion which keeps us away from solutions to the problems which all sides claim to dislike. The recent alleged gang rape and murder of a young lady in Hathras is exposing this tendency yet again. Firstly, most of those expressing outrage are being selective and focusing only on one case. Secondly, they have nothing to say about the woman who was recently found beheaded in the same state of Uttar Pradesh allegedly by her husband and his friend because she purportedly refused to convert. They are also silent about another young lady who was allegedly shot by her husband because she refused to convert. Such and worse crimes can be found in most states not just UP. Now, many of those ‘protesting’ on the Hathras on the social media and even at Jantar Mantar are openly taking the name of the victim while those on the social media are also sharing a photograph purportedly of the victim. Evidently, they haven’t even learnt the basics from the Nirbhaya case and are hence displaying the identity of the victim for their own motives. One should protest against wrongs and demand justice but will reactionary demonstrations ensure a solution to crimes? The path to the solution goes through reforms in the judiciary, police, politics and most importantly the society. A society which cannot reform itself is not in a position to demand reforms in other spheres.
Unfortunately, such heinous crimes often end up being an electronic and social media routine while politicians and others try to extract their bit. The case of the suspicious death of an actor in Mumbai has been treated almost similarly by some sections of the media. While demanding justice is necessary, spreading misinformation is definitely not. An actor who ‘exposed’ the drug nexus in the film industry in an exclusive interview told the anchor that marijuana is used for therapeutic purposes in the west but ganja is a hard drug! A ‘reporter’ of the same channel was once announcing breathlessly about the quartet of buds, ganja, hashish and charas- not knowing that he was referring to two substances as four. Can one expect balanced and informed inputs from such people? Evidently, that does not seem to bother most consumers of such news channels and many on social media.
Apart from encouraging malevolent idiocy among the public and keeping us away from the solution, this also diverts attention from other really important issues. For example, the United in Science 2020 report- a multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and released last month. This report basically states that climate change has not stopped for Covid-19. Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are at record levels and continue to increase. The report reveals the very alarming fact that greenhouse gas concentrations – which are already at their highest levels in three million years – have continued to rise. The world is set to see its warmest five years on record – in a trend which is likely to continue – and is not on track to meet agreed targets to keep global temperature increase well below 2 °C or at 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. The report also highlights the increasing and irreversible impacts of climate change, which affects glaciers, oceans, nature, economies and human living conditions and is often felt through water-related hazards like drought or flooding. Meanwhile, large swathes of Siberia have seen a prolonged and remarkable heatwave during the first half of 2020, which would have been very unlikely without anthropogenic climate change, said the WMO secretary-general, Petteri Taalas.
Anybody with sense will acknowledge that the WMO report paints an extremely alarming scenario. However, it has elicited limited focus in the mainstream media, especially most news channels. This seems to be a case of the dumb guiding the concerns of the dumber. This trend needs to change if we are serious about positive change otherwise we are moving towards more dangerous and idiotic times.
