SANJAY PINTO
In his dramatic monologue on ‘The Faultless Painter’, Robert Browning
used the expression “less is more”. More recently, one of the most prolific
politicians on twitter – Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah,
seemed provoked enough to tweet that “I never thought I'd say this but I love
having nothing to say on Twitter.” A fortnight ago, the “tweet a minute” CM had
hinted that twitter was a “lose-lose” situation, referring to his ‘damned if
you tweet, damned if you don’t’ predicament. If this is how one of the youngest
Chief Ministers, who has tweeted over five thousand two hundred times, feels
about the social media, how would one of the oldest former Chief Ministers view
the barrage of comments on his foray into twitter? Be it Karunanidhi or any
bigwig, I for one, welcome the entry of political leaders on the social media.
It is a healthy sign. A reality check. Away from sycophancy, to quite the
opposite! I just hope they don’t use it as a mere propaganda tool but actually
engage with citizens. For many a dramatic dialogue! And will ghost writers
please stay away?
When leaders tweet their political views or announcements, they may well
dispense with the much sought after press conferences. But there could be
more inconvenient questions here. A media interaction is usually with about two
dozen reporters; face to face at that. Twitter engagement is with lakhs of
people; each an Editor In Chief of their own accounts, many with a degree of
anonymity, firing the most difficult, often nasty salvos. There can be no
excuse for slander but can they take hard hitting posers, harsh criticism? Or
fair comment? Or just the truth? (The last two being exceptions to criminal
defamation) Mamata Banerjee is reported to have jailed a poor man who asked her
a tough question. So can politicians take it? The phrase ‘If you can’t stand
the heat, get out of the kitchen’ is relevant. It’s one thing to sign up on
twitter but quite another to last. For that you need a thick skin. At the time
of writing this column, @kalaignar89 has 3460 followers, 8 tweets and follows
no one. While some of his party colleagues like Khushbu Sundar are elated,
there are barbs coming in thick and fast. Someone suggests that tweets in Hindi
or Sanskrit be sent to his account, others harp on 2G. Going by the number of
fake profiles or handles of celebrities, many wonder if this is the real
account of Karunanidhi. It reportedly is.
Forget the bitter rivalry among the political class. Are ‘We The People’
tolerant enough? Do we show enough respect for a different view, political or
otherwise? My hunch is that despite the most common “Does Not Matter” statement
on Political Views on facebook profiles, many of us are as political as
the parties. In person we may communicate in measured tones on political issues,
if at all. The moment we log on to the net, something snaps and we go berserk.
This is probably another factor that makes several politicians avoid the social
media like swine flu! And it’s not only about the ‘hide and tweet’ trend. Go
beyond even twitter to the Comments sections on news websites. Some are
moderated, many are not. Some have a provision to report abuse. Those that are
not monitored or edited are a virtual free for all. Many of the comments are
certainly not printable. Or telecast worthy. Can a publication or channel allow
on its website such defamatory content that it would never ever imagine going
into print in say its ‘Letters To The Editor’ columns or as feedback on air?
This is another form of social media. And we cannot have double standards.
Now for a dash of hope. I recently came across a page on facebook of a
band – ‘Aarohi’ Deriving its name from the ascending note in music, this group
reflects a sense of corporate karma. The band formed by lawyer Harishankar
Mani, corporate honcho Sudeep Sangameswaran and others, belts out music solely
to support orphanages. Charity for a song! Please welcome the good guys on the
social media.
(An edited version of this column of
mine was published in The Hindu)
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