Cyber bullying - a cruel side of digital revolution

The digital revolution brought many changes in our lives. In the last two decades or so digital technology has changed how people interact with each other, it has revolutionized information generation and information sharing. At the same time, it has also created a parallel universe like our real universe, which is called the cyber or virtual world where many good and bad things happen like they happen in our real world. Cyberbullying is one such ugly phenomenon that is spreading rapidly in this virtual world. Because of the immense popularity of social networking sites and the easy accessibility of the internet and gadgets, many people spend a lot of time in this virtual world. They make many friends in this world and interact with many known and unknown people which is not possible in the real world. Bullying is a common incident even in the real world and in the cyber world, it is even more common due to the option of remaining anonymous. People get bullied for so many things, they get bullied for their appearance, expressing their thoughts, or sometimes bullying is in the form of sharing some derogatory material about them. The point is bullying happens in many forms and they all have detrimental effects to various degrees on people who are the victims of bullying. The major difference between bullying in the cyber and the real world is that in the cyber world, it spreads very rapidly, and mass bullying is very common. It really takes a few minutes or hours to make a video, photo, or post viral. People not at all related to that person or issue can comment and harass that person without revealing their identity. These cyberbullies are more aggressive and brutal as many of them think they cannot be caught, so they can say anything to anyone. It is also very difficult to design any effective laws to curb this behavior which makes it a very complex and difficult problem to handle.

I consider cyberbullying comparatively more dangerous because often it happens in a virtual world where the environment doesn't offer any protection to victims. The victim suffers in isolation as virtual world interactions are through a personal device like a smartphone, there are no physical bystanders who can intervene. It is very difficult to detect this problem, many times by the time people close to the victim know that something like this is going on it is too late as the damage has already been done. People who go through this hesitate to talk about this for the same reasons that people who get bullied in real life don't like to talk about it. But in real life, there is the possibility that some bystanders might inform authorities or even intervene to stop it or the victim might try to relocate to some other place to avoid facing those bullies but in the cyber world, both things are not that easy. It is really easy for bullies to chase the victim and intimidate them in the cyber world. This is why we need to educate our kids about cyberbullying and teach them ways to deal with it. If we don't counter this evil, then it will spread very rapidly. Any form of bullying should not be tolerated and if we all stand together against it then only we can put any brakes to these incidents. I hope no more lives are lost because of bullying, we already have enough pressure and problems in real life, and we should not make it more difficult by adding cyberbullying to that list. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

How 'Satyamev Jayate' affected me

Today (July 29th, 2012) was the last episode of Amir's show 'Satyamev Jayate.' For the last thirteen weeks every Sunday morning, I waited eagerly to watch this show, I can only compare this excitement I had with only two TV shows from the past 'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat'. I am sure many people liked this show as much as I did and there must be few (or many) who didn't like it and must have their own reasons for it. I watched this show with my family, especially with kids, I wanted them to watch it to understand what problems Indians and Indian society face even today, what are the burning issues in Indian society, and also I was interested in their reactions to it.

Frankly, Amir's show didn't tell us anything new. All who spend their life in India know that these problems exist in Indian society (some of them are worldwide issues like child sex abuse, alcoholism or drug addiction, domestic violence, excessive use of pesticides, etc.). So, if it didn't say anything new then what was so special about this show? For me, the special thing was their presentation. The way Satyamev Jayate's team did the research for each topic, their selection of topics was very interesting and the way they presented the issues on the show was unique. This was not done on Indian television before. Mnay of the issues were really sensitive like female foeticide, malpractices in medical profession or manual scavenging and can generate quite angry and passionate reactions in India but they all were handled in very balanced way. Amir is not the first Hindi movie star who came on TV, many big stars debuted on TV and were very successful in whatever shows they did, but his show was totally different than all other shows from the past. It was a very rewarding experience, sometimes it took me back to the chawl where I grew up, sometimes it took me to my village in Uttar Pradesh (UP), sometimes it showed me the problems I faced in my own family, it was a very unique experience for me. I have seen or experienced most of the issues or problems discussed in the show that's why I can relate to them and maybe that's the major reason I liked this show. Many times I cried while watching the show, and many times I got angry after listening to victims' stories, but this show also gave me a lot of hope. The show also showed me that people want to change and many people are working to bring that change. 

In the last episode, they showed many examples where people or organizations working selflessly to bring that change. The main message it gave was that we can bring change, it's easy to blame the system, politicians, or fate for the problems we face. It's easy to expect that someone will stand up and raise their voice against these issues or that future generations might be able to solve these problems as they are better equipped and well informed, but it doesn't have to be someone else, we can fight and try to solve all these problems. We all can fight against these things together and win, and we can only win if we fight together. The change or fight has to start with a single person and that is me. If I am not prepared to raise my hand to fight then I don't have any right to complain and don't have any right to expect that others might solve these problems for me so that my kids won't face these issues when they grow up. This is the major difference between this show and other shows, it not only raised the question but also offered the solution and told me that 'I can be the solution'.

Thanks a lot, Amir for making this show, and thanks a lot to your team for its efforts and research. I know that shows like this can't bring change or revolution in society but they can definitely catalyze it, they can initiate the discussion and create awareness that can lead to revolution and it can bring that change. This show has done its job and now we have to do ours. Only greed, lust, and desires can not dictate our behavior we need to think beyond all these things. Humans are a result of millions of years of evolution and we need to behave like an evolved species. 

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)  

Do we need 'Social Activism'?

Recently I read a very interesting article by Yoginder Sikand titled “Why I Gave Up on Social Activism”. It’s a very honest post and I think everyone who wants to bring social change or is a social activist should read it. I could relate to many points the author mentioned in his post. I went through a similar phase at one stage of my life. Like the author I was not born into a rich family or don’t have any economically privileged background, rather I was right in the middle of those ‘oppressed communities’ about which the author is talking in his post. I also intended to fight against social evils like 'caste/class oppression', 'gender injustice', and 'imperialism'. I did not get a chance to become a professional social activist or study that subject academically but I saw those things happening right in front of my own eyes, in my neighborhood, and even in my own family.

I can understand and relate very well with the feelings of the author when he says “But all that came with a heavy personal price. The more I identified with the 'Revolution' of the 'oppressed', the more unbearably negative I became as a person.” Many times when we decide to fight some sort of social evil or cultural prejudice our fight becomes focused against people who we think are responsible for those activities. Our whole efforts are targeted to criticize them, prove them wrong, and hope that our efforts will bring the desired social change. Many times we forget that it’s not those people who are the problem but the culture or the mindset of society.  If we analyze closely we can see that even the ‘oppressed class’ also doesn’t treat women fairly, there are also strong and weak sections within them, and often strong sections exploit the weak. I even saw women who struggled in their young days or during their childhood, when they became head of household or got some commanding position in the family behave similarly as their male counterparts, there is absolutely no difference. They also expect other women to fall in line, suppress them, and obey so-called social norms to protect the honor of their family. All these things made me think more deeply about these problems. It's not only the gender that is responsible for this attitude. I think it’s the human tendency to dominate and exploit the weak for their own benefit, it's a part of our animal instinct. 

Many individuals who are involved in these socially evil acts or oppressive activities are not bad people, they behave perfectly normal most of the time. But their minds are so conditioned by the social environment that they see nothing wrong in their outdated beliefs and their actions according to those beliefs. They think that whatever they are doing is the right thing to do, and that's why they are so convinced about the legitimacy of their actions. Just opposing them without listening to their side of the story didn't help me to proceed anywhere apart from landing into a lot of arguments. Endless arguments, where I was opposing their views and actions and they were fiercely justifying them by saying how it's their culture or religion, and how it is my duty also to behave like that. In my endless pursuit to bring that revolution and change I totally forgot that I also need to work hard to make myself a better human being. I was so busy reforming others that I almost forgot that I needed to reform myself also, after all, I was also the product of the same society. This made me introspect, pause, and think all over again. I realized that just opposing my family or people around me and fighting/arguing with them won't solve many problems rather might create some more problems for me. People can ignore me very easily, we may cease to exist for each other, but will that solve the problem? So, I decided first to listen to their point of view and look for answers within their beliefs and actions. The problem was not with them but was in their thinking and beliefs, it was in social structure which formed those beliefs. I was hitting the wrong target. Now, I don't hate these people, I try to understand them and then try to talk with them. I don't force my ideas on them but try to show that there might be some problems in their beliefs and there are better alternatives. Many started thinking about the issues I was talking about, everything was happening around them all the time but now they also started noticing it, and they started relating with me. It took time but slowly they started acknowledging the problem. My aim is to solve the problem, not to alienate the individuals.

I believe that I am heading somewhere, the process is slow but I think it is working. I am willing to wait and continue my efforts. Many people have dedicated their lives to these types of social causes I can definitely do my bit. I encourage my blog readers to look around and be part of the change that they want to bring. Just thinking about the change won't help. At least start the process, the results are not in our hands they will follow sooner or later.

According to me, we definitely need social activism, but in what form it's up to us to decide. Nothing wrong in making social activism a profession I am not against it. Doctors fight against human diseases, similarly, social activists fight against social diseases. We need social activists like we need doctors. The good part of social activism is that we all can be a part of it, we don't need any degree or training to participate in it. So let’s begin, together we can bring the change we desire.  

Thanks for reading and please share your views.

References:

1. http://www.countercurrents.org/sikand190412.htm

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)