Thread by @iopyne

[Thread] It is very common to see the privileged use terms like musali, changar, Kanjar etc in a derogatory manner, even during TV debates. It is either forgotten or taken for granted that there are ppl out there who might be getting hurt. Furthermore the hurt side doesnt 1/13

get to respond, as they don't have access to most forums. Even Twitter & Facebook keep the underprivileged out due to literacy req. @tiktok_us however doesn't have those barriers & with rise in access to smartphones it is enabling underprivileged content sharing as well 2/13

But this puts them in direct competition for likes & shares with the privileged. Many of whom grew up watching their parents get petty with household help. A behavior that is very difficult to unlearn, & exhibited often. Consider this one, reminiscing abt pre musali tiktok 3/13

And this one, reminding the changris that the fact that his mama gives meat to changaris on baqr eid, makes their family the overlords of all changaris. 4/13

And this lady whose advice to the "kamies" is to not show off their kami-ness. As surely that is offensive, and also it labels them as kamies, which is something that they should be ashamed off but then be aware off as well. 5/13

As a result the tiktok feed of the kid in 2/n & his brother transforms from jokes & rural life to justifying how Musalis are equal to others. They invoke humanity. Something that those privileged nincompoops should have learnt at school. 6/13

They also invoke Islam. "Musalman hain, aap key tarah hain." 7/13

"Musali Zindabad." 8/13

They call the privileged ones out on their insecurity about "likes" telling them that we are all here for likes. Furthermore after Islam & Humanity they invoke money, to make the point that Musalis too have money, and thus are equal. 9/13

"Musali kaaraan tay nai char sakday? Tussan char sakday o khali?" 10/13

"Musali bohot kuch ker sakta hai, musali musali hai" 11/13

Cost of production for tiktok videos is presented as more evidence of being rich enough to be equal. 12/13

But fighting the system is not that easy, & these two might be losing the battle as they seem to be backing down a bit from their musaliness.

These two guys deserve a feature on regular media, it's a wonderful story of fighting prejudice and racism using social media. 13/13