Lack of sensitiveness in media is
going from bad to worse. With CCTV cameras installed everywhere these days,
there has been an explosion in availability of crime and accident videos. Such
videos started filling social media first, then digital news, and finally TV
news. These media houses do not even blur the images most of the time and do
not even post a trigger warning – they just show the accident or crime video as
if they are helping the humanity by their insensitive act.
Yesterday, a politician was attacked
in Bengal and TV media kept showing his videos with huge amount of blood
dripping from his face. Another poor man was lynched by a mob in UP and the
internet and TV media showed his face at the crime scene. As I saw his face in
picture, I became affected by it, with heart filled with pain and grief. Should
I blame myself or the insensitive media for it?
The closest I have witnessed a mob
action is when I saw a huge gathering near our village chowk where people were
beating up a man. I asked what that was about and got to know that the man was
caught red-handed stealing a “bicycle” and hence people were beating him up. I
saw the man and he clearly looked drunk. People were hitting his head with
their hands, boys were laughing and taking turns hitting him with fists, their
faces beaming with pride, as if they were earning some kind of punya. Is that
how it feels: beat up a weak unarmed man and feel you are the saviour of
humanity? The scene was sickening. I remember the drunk man was neither crying nor shouting for help, but just moved in slow
motion, as if in a hangover. Next day, there was
no such news in any newspaper, which meant the man had survived the assault.
On one hand, our society is filled
with blood thirsty parasitic mobs and on the other hand we have this media
which has become their ‘cheerleader’ by showing their action in pictures and
videos. No one cares anything about being sensible and caring about how some
people can get affected by their content.
At its best, the society is becoming
more like a fool’s paradise. In a fool’s world, perhaps we need to be a fool
too, to thrive. Or may be a little drunk, like the guy who allegedly stole a
bicycle from the roadside.
- Rahul