The Trouble with Comebacks

Why are the findings of behavioural science so easily subsumed in popular culture? The use of jargon marks a discipline for revulsion, more so in a political environment that scoffs at expertise. For instance, there's so much said and written by experts about the time it takes to develop a habit, and also the time it takes to get rid of one; how does this make the leap to an easy dinner table conversation, even in conservative families? This question is of immediate relevance to my post, since I have resumed writing after seven long years; I am returning to a creative enterprise, and it is hard to tell if the hiatus is fatal. I can't intuit wisdom in these matters. There’s more dignity in simplifying worries to a friend, than resolving them in credible, but impersonal crannies online- say, a podcast by a noted behavioural expert, or a journal article. Life has changed a lot over these years, and the heft of this transition cannot be articulated in writing- but an authentic resumption accounts for the past; I could begin unspooling my thoughts with a post on my reading habits, but my preferences are so seismically different now, that it would disorient anyone reading this post. I visualise my audience landing on this page to seek respite from the walls that have been closing in on them in the last three weeks. To first walk them through my discovery of Nirmal Shekar, and explain how this has culminated in a tolerance for sterile academic prose… would be an ode to tyranny. I should abandon the effort- for now. The performance of evolution needs a better stage.  

Notes from a Worried Indian

Note: This post was written seven years ago, right after the Delhi rape incident. 

I was waiting for answers. The questions had been put forth by rapists, long ago - they were troubled whispers in the dark, repeated with each passing instance of sexist behavior. At first, I ignored them - emotion is often foiled by the demands of cordiality. The voice, however, grew louder, and morphed into a blood curdling scream, amplified by the media's attention - and this time, everybody heard it. 

Were people awakened to the ghoul in our midst? It has been feeding on the corpse of womanhood for years, and feminism, the resident exorcist, sensing its presence, has tried hard to drive it away - to no avail. The ghoul has a robust appetite, and salivates at the prospect of devouring civilization - it is pointedly insatiable when hungered by the aroma of  mutilated confidence, and the succulence of dismembered lives. The outpouring of polemic rage on television, in print and on the streets of cities ought to augur well for India and her women - the ghoul, having eluded capture for so many years, will now be vanquished. Not. 

As I watch our literati profess their punditry everywhere, my thoughts drift to the people who are led by them - the aam junta; left on their own after a certain point, with a sketchy idea of the problem, and borrowed ideas of the solution, they fall prey to an insidious form of subversion - herd behaviour. I'm not blaming the pundits for creating an opinion - but the common man has to pause and think before he accepts it. Rabid concurrence can be dangerous, because it affords opportunities for people with perverse interests to poison our  minds - if we don't dwell.

Take, for instance, a widely circulated Facebook post :  two pictures - one, of a bloodied corpse being dragged through the streets, and the second, of the same body being hung on a pole, watched by a frenzied mob. The caption? " This is what officials do to rapists in Lebanon. Where does India stand?"

I was nauseated, not only by the gore, but also by the idea. Lebanon, for starters, is in the Middle-East, a region known for its chauvinist inclination in all matters. Why then, would a rapist be punished this way? I decided to find out. Guess what? Section 522 of  the Lebanese Criminal Code, as of late December(when the post was in circulation), far from prescribing such punishment, exonerates the rapist of all charges if he marries the victim - and, hold your breath - this rule applies to mentally and physically challenged women too. If the United Nations Country Team's report to the Human Rights Council is to be believed, then Lebanese women suffer just much as their Indian counterparts.

Doesn't it follow that the veracity of the caption to the post can safely be questioned? If yes, then why did the person who first created this post lie to incite a virtual mob? I use the word incite because the post was shared by nearly 5000 people in a few hours. 

 That is not all. Yet another post circulated fake photos of the victim - the girl in the photo turned out to be an engineering student from Kerala, and the Cyber Cell has  initiated a probe, but is yet to nab the offender. Reports of  sensationalist profiles, revealing the name and identity  of the victim started trickling in. Isn't it a crying shame on us that we allow these knaves to thrive?

Were all the protesters in Delhi and elsewhere driven by conviction? Was it the thought that they could get away with venting their anger in such a protest that was driving them, or was it genuine concern? Are we sure that their integrity can't be questioned, that there is no molester in their ranks? We aren't. 

 I am also reminded of the reactions to the Guwahati molestation case. I regarded the frenzy with quizzical exasperation - outrage and bloodlust spilled onto Twitter updates and Facebook walls, there were calls for the molesters' heads,  and shared photos of the prime suspect, with profane captions to boot - varied expressions of violence, all of them. Surprisingly, appalling gaffes by Tarun Gogoi and Alka Lamba , again naming and revealing the victim's identity - were not even fractionally subjected to that kind of focus, while, in effect, such ineptitude starves the victim of respite for the rest of her life - and should have mattered just as much as the hunt for the molesters. One other queer aspect, was the distribution of the video of the incident by the very same people who claimed to've felt deeply for the victim - why was it being widely watched, shared and trending everywhere, for weeks after  people were made aware of its contents? Was the number of YouTube visits to the video a measure of empathy for the girl? Watching the molestation helps one commiserate with the victim - or so, it seems.

Quick on the heels of the Guwahati grope fest, was trouble from the North-East - places many hadn't even cared to hear about, made its presence felt in southern India, leading to a mass exodus. As if the extant prejudice against north-easterners wasn't enough, mischief mongers were at it again, moulding public thought.  

How does this reflect on the aam junta? Don't we owe it to every victim to think before we conclude, regardless of the sides we take?  I shudder to think of the consequences. We'd do well to remember that mobs, on the internet or otherwise, whatever the act, are always driven by collective empowerment, deriving from individual thoughtlessness. Please think before you form an opinion. It's a humble request from a worried Indian.