The images are stark. Water cannons streaming jets on defiant young men and women. Young teen agers hoist in their own placards. Baton wielding policemen in full battle regalia charging towards unarmed, albeit unruly, protesters. Young people seething in anger…
The run up to the day of the Lord has been far removed from the spirit of Christmas and nothing – from the PM’s statement to Sonia Gandhi’s intervention – seems to be working.
The victim, the little girl is still fighting for her life. May God bless her and ensure her speedy recovery. May good sense prevail on our young. May the law of the land punish the guilty and make examples out of them so that successive generations think before committing such heinous crimes. May our women walk the Earth with the dignity and freedom they deserve. Amen.
We will however, fail in our duties if we do not identify certain emerging trends, analyse them and learn our lessons. For one, what happened in Delhi and the clones that erupted in various parts of the country was conspicuous by its spontaneity and lack of leadership. If the spontaneous nature pointed out the growing frustration and anger of the youth, the lack of leadership ensured its inability of contain itself with a rainbow coalition – from lumpen elements to failed charlatans and insignificant politicians – trying to hijack the genuine anger for their selfish ends. The lack of leadership also complicated things from the point of view of the administration which is used to negotiating and hammering out “settlements” with the leaders and then using them to communicate with the masses. Confronted by a leaderless mass of protesting humanity, they lost their bearings and were visibly clueless. That is why where Kennedy had pulled an ace by sending coffee to protesters, our leaders made a mockery of them by sending out the water cannons.
The second point that needs to be accepted – and many will not agree with me – is that the mainline media is increasingly getting marginalized, irrespective of our collective shenanigans getting shriller by the day. Media Advisories calling for responsible reporting are being handed out, but the underlying fact, that the media is not as effective as it was in moulding public opinion is being ignored, dare I add, at our own peril? The electronic media, ever scrambling for trivial “breaking news” and footages of gore sadly has few takers. While the printed version with its didactic nature and dated discourse is of little relevance to today’s kids, the partakers of instant karma.
In these linked in days, not only are “empowered” citizens engaging and creating “news” the way they perceive things, but are also sharing and communicating in the social media, where they have far more takers and are much more credible as a source than establishment aiding established media houses. Show me a journalist with a fraction of the fan following of Priyanka Chopra in twitter and I will rest my case. Alas, my friends, while we were busy counting our TRP’s and claiming victory citing circulation figures, our thunder was stolen, some say, irretrievably. And with more and more people getting “armed” with hand held devices, more and more irrelevant will we become, if we do not mend our ways with immediate effect.
The Israelis are twitting their missile strikes. Facebook is predicting that India will have the highest number of users by 2015. College students are organising candle marches of protest that are enough to make hard core politicians blush. Calls for castrating rapists are going viral in the social media. All the while protesters are pouring in demanding justice and its speedy implementation – everything emanating in the social media, a spark creating a wild fire in real time. If this be the case, then the million dollar question naturally will be, “why are those that be not responding in the social media itself?”
The answers are not far to seek – our “we-know-it-all” leaders (bureaucrats, politicians, media pundits, et all) were caught napping, and when they awoke they saw that while they were sleeping, life has quietly changed the questions! It is still not late, awake, arise and socialize o blind men of Hindusthan! You have nothing to lose but your chains and a whole new (social media) world to win!