Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Mob Violence !!!

Yesterday some anti-social elements vandalised a statue of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar in the sleepy Kanpur and all hell broke loose in far way Maharastra.The so called dalit activists gave vent to their anger by destroying public property and disturbing law and order situation.Its not that this is a one off phenomenon, it has been happening quite frequently now a days.Our media friends stoke the fire by reporting half truths and reporting incidents in a way that will arouse extreme passions.'Peaceful protest' has become an oxymoron ,as protests of any kind are invariably followed by violence.When the Kannada superstar 'Rajkumar' died and that too of natural causes ,there was an outpouring of grief ...quite understandable but the kind of violence that followed it was senseless to say the least.Is this the way to bid farewell to a loved one ?
And this is by no means limited to India ..... the cartoon row that erupted over the publication of 'offensive cartoons'(again an oxymoron as cartoons are not to be taken seriously afterall)by a danish newspaper and later on by other newspapers across Europe is a case in point.Violent reactions were reported from across the globe,people participated in protests without even having seen the cartoons....the unruly protests only reinforced the stereotypes that the protesters were trying to protest against.
The point is that being in a mob provides a person the shield of annonymity which makes him do things which he would not do individually.Many times the media persons also egg on the protesters to do something dramatic so that it makes for better newsbyte.

3 comments:

Reeta Skeeter said...

The point is that being in a mob provides a person the shield of annonymity which makes him do things which he would not do individually..........SO TRUE!

Unknown said...

The point you have made at the last is a real valid one.Although you are using it in a negative sense, which is quite right, I want to view it from a different angle...forget about all these stupid incidents.
Often the shield of annonymity can fuel you or make you bold to participate in the activities which are good for the society or the nation. You can take Indian freedom struggle as the best example of it.It is a paradox of complex human behavior and proves how good and evil can co-exist on human mind. A good human mind is the one that can take the advantage of that shield of anonimity to make him things do for the betterment of the society.

mazak said...

@Reeta...even blogging provides us a sense of anonymity to write and express what one may not be able to do in real life....

@bhargab....u r right that anonymity can also be used to do something good and Indian freedom struggle is a very good example but the reality today is that people abuse the anonymity provided by internet,mob etc to settle personal scores and indulge in anti-social activities....not all people are doing this but the majority are...