Among my friends and family on Facebook (and real life too) there is a neat division over the present issues rocking the nation. I know which side I am on. Definitely not the side that is trying to stifle voices. How easily my *friends* talk of punishing dissenting voices, forgetting that there has been mischief afoot. What if it was your child who has been framed and there were hordes out there baying for his blood? Will you want things to play out the same way as it has now? Will you be okay with your child being beaten up first before being found to have been *wrongly* framed? For thugs to take things into their own hands and beat up those who supported him? Or would you want your child to be treated fairly according to the law of the land?
I am glad for Facebook because I can see the *real* nature of people who otherwise come across as calm and discerning individuals. Sitting in the safety of their homes and justifying violence makes them accessories by default. To me, they are no less guilty than those who actually resorted to violence on the streets. It is extremely depressing, this finding out, but then I am thankful too for the timely eye-openers that have dispelled the illusion of them as a discriminating and enlightened lot who understand what democracy means.
Anyways, I am not going into details about the issues confronting us as a nation as there are already too many out there writing in detail about what has happened, is happening. So I will leave it to them to keep enlightening us further. Suffice to say that I am at a loss to understand why someone wrongly framed has to continue to remain incarcerated even for a single minute longer than necessary. Also, why those openly threatening violence are roaming around free.
©Shail Mohan 2016
Shail's Nest 
On most issues, i seldom take a stand
‘Cos one doesn’t know who plays what hand
The media is mostly paid
The controversies quickly fade
And all is forgotten when, runs out, Time’s sand!
We can all have the luxury of not taking a stand because it did not happen to us or ours. But if it did… then what?
hmmmm
Can you really tell one’s “real” nature via a social media site. When I had FB it seems as if everyone is living very splendid “picture perfect” happy lives. It’s when you know them in person and spend a lot of time that you get to see their real side. I don’t know but many people cannot accept they have flaws are not “perfect”
Why just FB, don’t people lead perfect lives in real too? 😉 Let me share my views about that through this link: https://shailsnest.com/2015/09/21/only-your-best-picture-please/
In Facebook, it is easier to see the real person than in real life, especially when there are issues on which people are divided. For this reason alone, I ❤ Facebook. 🙂
agree completely with you! everyone these days are experts on everything in Facebook these days, not to mention the extreme patriotism they feel only only to forget it when the media moves on to some other “breaking news”. Aggressiveness and violence seems to be the call of the hour for most of the citizens…..
Aggressiveness the reult of a sense of entitlement that the nation belongs more to them than to others.
As if that will ever solve problems.
can’t agree more with you; people seem to have forgotten the phrase “live and let live”….I hope good sense prevails soon!
I got the shock of my life when I logged into FB after a small hiatus. My timeline was filled with posts calling for severe punishment and of course the standard, most stupid thing I have ever heard in my life line – “They should be sent to Pakistan” type of things. I was shocked because these status updates came from those people who used to preach about how different they are because they were intellectuals and didn’t follow the herd mentality. Also they are so stupid to share links without even checking the authenticity of the source or the news. When people point out that, they kind of abuse them and call them names. And some people have the nerve to ask why do we think there is intolerance in our country? 😦
Tell me about it! I am still to recover from the reactions from some of the too well-educated elite friends not to mention my own kith and kin. To see this ugly side of theirs is a real shock.