Communal Hatred Goes Digital
Just like our society has a dark side, there is a darker side of the Internet, where pedophiles, racists, drug-dealers, hatemongers and what-not lurk with anonymity, to trap and bully unsuspecting individuals. The behavior of any society on online social-network sites are reflections of the society itself. Their victims are generally people with low self-esteem or low self-confidence. Especially, if some touchy-people who take offense, there are many givers over Internet. The self-assurance that there is no actual repercussion of abusing via, boosts the confidence of these internet-bullies who troll with impunity. I prefer to ignore trolls, online abuse and hate-mails, but given the rise of such trolling, abuse and selective outraging by certain self-proclaimed liberals of Nepal, the deeper and darker side needs to be exposed.
In context of Nepal, the social-media is polarized due to the divisive constitution which was promulgated recently. While the major ethnic groups like Tharus and Madhesis have been protesting for three months, the government has made no credible effort to resolve the crisis. The blockade of supplies by protesters has crippled the day-to-day life of common Nepalese. This has led to high polarity and divisive hatred in the society. The social-media sphere of Nepal is reflective of that hate. Every rational person must make conscious effort to counter this hate irrespective of personal and ideological differences.
If we scratch the history of online bullying in Nepal, the Madhesi community has been at the receiving end. Be it Dhoti, or their looks, or their food, it has been a subject of public ridicule in Nepali society for a long time and the same is observed on social media. Many people have become conscious over time, resulting in changing attitudes for good. However, the current socio-political condition in Nepal has recently increased a communal hate. The lack of accountability and selective outrage of pseudo-liberals to pick-n-choose certain cases and argument-from-silence for others further polarize the situation.
The vileness against certain public figures especially women and people from Madhesi community receives almost no moral policing from the so-called self-proclaimed guardians of maintaining decency in public discourse. So far not a single case of online slandering of Madhesi public figure or Madhesi community has been taken action against by the Nepal Police. While it may not be worthwhile to pick fights with online trolls, one has to counter selective hate, especially when done by the authorities who are supposed to be impartial. It is necessary to speak against the selective outrage of pseudo-intellectuals because it not only exposes their hypocrisy but also reflects upon the social-health of the country. The inaction of Nepal Police, which otherwise is quite active on cyber-bully cases, does tell something. Be it jailing a youth for weeks over a petty facebook comment alleging corruption, or the sacking a police officer over his political comment on social site, Nepal Police has done good job. What amuses me is the selective efficiency of Nepal Police. If we look into the behavior pattern of Nepal Police, the bias is apparent.
Here, I cover few recent incidences. I list the hate-pages with thousands of likes, vile comments, hatred and point out categorical silence of Nepali pseudo-liberals in tandem with inaction of Nepal Police.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/427090050676640/: “Dhoti ko buddhi lauro na hatiyar” (Dhoti (derogatory term for Indians and Madheshis)’s brain neither stick nor weapon:) 10,065 likes
https://www.facebook.com/dhoti.muji 25,254 likes “के निच्च परेर हासेछस ओए धोती मुजी (What do you grin at, oye Dhoti) [Disclaimer: This page has been removed by the time we made this article online, we welcome it]
https://www.facebook.com/Dhoti-Sucks-Nepal-Rocks-469019863154841/ : 1.8k likes, Dhoti Sucks Nepal Rocks
https://www.facebook.com/ANTI-DHOTI-CLUB-100609673466949/ : 4.8 likes, Anti-Dhoti Club
https://www.facebook.com/DhotiKukurHaru/ : 3.8k likes, Dhoti Kukur haru (Dhoti Dogs)
https://www.facebook.com/Dhoti-chor-desh-chod-172671599495967 : 500 Likes, Dhoti Chor Desh Chhor (Dhoti Thief, leave the country)
This is just the tip of the ice. If we start looking at trolls and other social media, a big-fat-large racist monster lurks within Nepali social-sphere, and it is growing even bigger-fatter-larger due to the duplicity in character of so called pseudo-liberals who prefer to counter this hate with silence, armed with inaction. Our country is going through polarized times, the partisan behavior and duplicity in character of liberals is further polarizing the society.
There are many incidents which can be categorically documented to show this duplicity in behavior. Recently, a slanderous page with mere 8 likes against a female journalist got a lot of sympathy in twitter-sphere of Nepal. After the unrelenting hue and cry of two days, and Nepal Police active intervention, the page was finally taken down. Now, I would like to bring to notice a facebook page with ‘Kukur Tihar’ page 8.6k likes and 3.8k shares, which did not receive any criticism or moral-policing by the same activists who were campaigning against the page. Could it be because Nepal Police twitter handle is overwhelmed and they do not have enough bandwidth to even acknowledge the cyber-bullying for Madhesi community, leaders and civic-society? The online social sphere and actual society are in sync for ignoring cyber-bullying case on Madhesis. There must be a reason or a heuristics for this particular brand of behavior.
This selective outrage should be condemned along with digital hatred towards any community. Let us hope sanity prevails and the online version of communal hatred is controlled by responsible Nepal Police and civic society of Nepal.
