Recently we all found out that the Madras High Court banned TikTok application because it is indecent for children and it connects vulnerable impressionable kids to lurking sexual predators.
If you read closely, the same argument applies to internet as whole and might even be used to ban internet as well. TikTok, not any more complex than Instagram or Dubsmash still gets a ban unlike the other applications simply for its content and not the company policy. It's like overthrowing democracy in India because there are too many corrupt politicians.
But this is not really the first time that we have had such an approach to our problems. This really is the Indian way of dealing with any issue. The solution to every problem. Don’t talk about it. Ban it.
We have caste discrimination in our country. A section of people are humiliated for what their ancestors did as a livelihood. So much that names of communities have been equated with swear words. How did we solve the problem? We banned words like Bhangi, Chamar, Chura, etc. That is the solution we came up with. The government of India even came up with a resolution encouraging government offices to not use the word “Dalit” and use other expressions like socially backward classes. Let’s close our eyes and the sun will set.
But banning TikTok is not just turning a blind eye to the incessant vulgarity on the medium, which in turn is due to segregation of the two sexes and sex itself being a taboo. We are already dealing with the violent forms this segregation takes as projection of frustration. But it is not it but a little deeper than that.
TikTok enables users to make short form content by themselves. All they need is a camera phone and a working internet connection. The application in recent years has turned a rage in the rural part of the country with people creating short videos right from downright filmy to absolutely outrageous. In short, mostly pathetic. But they are finding audiences for themselves and working to evolve.
So what really is the problem?
For the first time in India the rural people are realizing how a story is told through a camera. They are doing it themselves and finding out what works as content. The subscribers are finally finding out how a camera can be used to manipulate emotions of the viewers. Because this content is not made by the people who travel through planes and helicopters or the busy city dwellers. This content when seen by someone with somewhat limited resources doesn’t incite a feeling of awe like a child witnessing a magic show, but a feeling of emulation.
This is problematic for those in power, for if rural people, which account for most people in the country, understood how stories are told through cameras a lot of political propaganda would become useless. It would become more and more difficult to mobilize the masses and become god-like personalities, which are leaders always wish to be.
So we need to ban anything that tries to educate us and push us towards education and blame it on the toxic realities which will continue to exist, TikTok or no TikTok.
If you read closely, the same argument applies to internet as whole and might even be used to ban internet as well. TikTok, not any more complex than Instagram or Dubsmash still gets a ban unlike the other applications simply for its content and not the company policy. It's like overthrowing democracy in India because there are too many corrupt politicians.
But this is not really the first time that we have had such an approach to our problems. This really is the Indian way of dealing with any issue. The solution to every problem. Don’t talk about it. Ban it.
We have caste discrimination in our country. A section of people are humiliated for what their ancestors did as a livelihood. So much that names of communities have been equated with swear words. How did we solve the problem? We banned words like Bhangi, Chamar, Chura, etc. That is the solution we came up with. The government of India even came up with a resolution encouraging government offices to not use the word “Dalit” and use other expressions like socially backward classes. Let’s close our eyes and the sun will set.
But banning TikTok is not just turning a blind eye to the incessant vulgarity on the medium, which in turn is due to segregation of the two sexes and sex itself being a taboo. We are already dealing with the violent forms this segregation takes as projection of frustration. But it is not it but a little deeper than that.
TikTok enables users to make short form content by themselves. All they need is a camera phone and a working internet connection. The application in recent years has turned a rage in the rural part of the country with people creating short videos right from downright filmy to absolutely outrageous. In short, mostly pathetic. But they are finding audiences for themselves and working to evolve.
So what really is the problem?
For the first time in India the rural people are realizing how a story is told through a camera. They are doing it themselves and finding out what works as content. The subscribers are finally finding out how a camera can be used to manipulate emotions of the viewers. Because this content is not made by the people who travel through planes and helicopters or the busy city dwellers. This content when seen by someone with somewhat limited resources doesn’t incite a feeling of awe like a child witnessing a magic show, but a feeling of emulation.
This is problematic for those in power, for if rural people, which account for most people in the country, understood how stories are told through cameras a lot of political propaganda would become useless. It would become more and more difficult to mobilize the masses and become god-like personalities, which are leaders always wish to be.
So we need to ban anything that tries to educate us and push us towards education and blame it on the toxic realities which will continue to exist, TikTok or no TikTok.
Comments
Post a Comment
Share your thoughts. Be nice. Have a good day.