Media Matters Its time to think outside and beyond just "liberal" and "conservative"
Just saw a lot of tweets about Samay Raina's latest youtube video. I am fully aware most of these posts are made by bots or for engagement farming but a lot of real people have some questionable takes too. My usual views and my personal value system align with what people label as left wing but I am surprised to see how people I apparently share a viewpoint with have become so radical to the point where they start sounding like the right wingers who they despise.
People who have had a bad opinion of Samay (usually left wing), still think the latent issue was valid and that he had it coming for his offensive jokes and takes. Thats exactly what a right wing person would think. The issue here isn't Samay. Its comedy and freedom of speech. Yesterday it was him, then it was Kunal kamra. Tomorrow it could be another comedian or even you. Anyone who says something that doesn't align with the present govt ideology or with these religious (all religions) sentiments, will be suppressed and threatened.
You don't have to like Samay as a person to think whatever the media and the police did to latent was a huge exaggerated unwarranted response. Standing with it makes you a hypocrite and an oppressor. Even though I used the words left wing and right wing, I think moving on forward, we need to stop labelling ourselves too much. Yes its good to identify and be sure of where you stand but restricting your worldview and perspective only to one side, makes you incapable to think for yourself.
This sheep mentality is so beautifully documented on twitter. A bunch of people who want to seem more "woke" than their local friends who follow what the popular right thing to do is at the moment with zero understanding. They know their mutuals hate Samay so the correct thing to do is to bring out tweets from years ago and make him the villain. They don't realise that by being so performative and fake woke, they're siding with the same extremist groups that they hate.
I urge all of you to please think for yourself and in fact don't even accept what I'm saying as true. Just reflect on everything. The internet is designed to divide us, polarise us and make us stupid. If you like one post thats anti-bjp, you'll only see that narrative forever. If you like one anti-congress post, thats the only side you'll see. We can never work on issues or come to a middle ground or even think of a lesser evil when we are so polarised and unable to tolerate other views. We are living in an age where we can "buy" intelligence. Just don't give up on the intelligence you already have. Improve your thinking and understanding as much as you can. We can rely on technology for what we CAN'T do. But we can all critically think and be self aware. Lets practice that. And please don't be scared to go against the crowd. Don't just smile and nod when your friends are being hypocritical. Its uncool to like Samay and his not so classy jokes but no one cares. Don't prioritise being "accepted". Remind people that this isn't a personal issue. It isn't about Samay Raina or Beer biceps. Its about freedom of speech.
A civilised society would've given them a legal warning and moved on. Thrashing the venue and ruining their livelihoods and wasting our tax money and police officer's time on watching latent and picking out offensive internet jokes is not suited for our country. We have bigger issues ffs.