Glad we are angry about police excesses today. But we also look away - or actively cheer - when the police takes the law in their own hands, in cases where we disagree with or dislike the people they are beating up.
Isn't that what empowers some of them to always exert power?
If we turn into online mobs and celebrate videos of police beating up people - no matter how much we disagree with them - we are shunning the judiciary & dismissing human rights.
ALL police brutality is wrong. Police excesses in our country cannot come with *Conditions Applied.
If you want #JusticeForJayarajandBennicks, the next time someone is being lathi charged or 'encountered', don't cheer for the police. This bloodlust is what makes bad cops believe they can get away with brutality.
The job of the police is to apprehend, not to 'deliver justice'.
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I have been struggling to find words about the heinous and tragic crime of sexual violence and murder of a young doctor in Kolkata, and have only been amplifying stories of women & medical professionals so far.
But looking at the comments in so many posts of women, I’ve been horrified & disturbed.. but sadly not surprised. Hundreds of men have, as usual, chosen to respond with ‘Not all men’, ‘Men get raped too’, ‘Fake feminism’, ‘Victim card’, ‘Attention seeker’ and so on.
They are going to attack this post too, and I’m not sure if there’s any easy way to fight that mindset, so this post is aimed at the other men: who are feeling deeply uncomfortable today, and aren’t sure what men can do to help. As it turns out: we can do EVERYTHING.
1/10
WHAT CAN WE DO RIGHT NOW
Listen, read and amplify
A lot of the anger today is aimed at men, and rightfully so. Instead of reacting to it or taking it personally, we must read as many accounts of women speaking up, to understand and acknowledge their pain. And we must then use our platforms to amplify as many of those voices as we can.
But this must not stop only at social media. We must create spaces among our families, friends and teammates, for women to be able to express themselves without judgement, shame or fear. Listen, but not to react, or even to respond, but to just intentionally, meaningfully and genuinely listen.
2/10
WHAT CAN WE DO RIGHT NOW
Speak up and show up
It’s a shame that not enough men - even decent, well-intentioned men - are sharing stories or posts or commenting or supporting the women who are. A silent support is no support at all.
Of course, there will be men who will attack us too, who will write degrading messages like ‘nahin degi’ (which I’ve received a *lot*) or will try to find ulterior motives to this bare minimum. But there is strength in numbers - if enough of us speak up, others will too.. and it may just compel those who think otherwise to join us too.
But this support cannot be limited to online spaces: show up offline. Join protests. Add our voices to those of the women.
Wow, so #PoonamPandey is alive. A friend of mine told me in private last night that this is a campaign by a digital agency, but I was skeptical. Because could we really fall this low? Looks like we have.
So many things wrong with this. #Thread
There are hundreds of thousands of people who die from cancer every year. To use a cancer-led death as a tool for a publicity stunt is one of the most insensitive, thoughtless, vile ideas anyone's come up with. You've diminished real deaths & suffering, and made a mockery of a terrible illness.
Beyond that, you've turned the HPV vaccine into a punchline. I really hope that every woman who was considering taking this vaccine after the news of the death yesterday, goes ahead with it, because chances are that this will have the opposite effect: people will not want to be associated with anything Poonam Pandey was.
Spoke to @shrutisonal26 for a @timesofindia piece on 'The rise of alpha males' thanks to films like Animal, Gadar & <name the South blockbuster>.
While I don't disagree that hypermasculinity has made big bucks, I have a contrarian view on its rise. The reason? @iamsrk
#Thread
If there's a trend about so-called alpha males, and the associated misogyny, aggression and violence, I urge everyone to look at another trend: the giant success of the 'softboy' masculinity of SRK's 500 Cr+ blockbusters of this very year, Pathaan and Jawan.
Some examples:
In Pathaan, the introduction to Deepika's character is through an action scene where she saves SRK's character. And at no point does 'Pathaan' try to 'take charge' (or even try to cut himself loose).. he knows Rubina is very well in charge, and she's kicking all ass!
#Thread on the memeification of the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial:
Alright, so I know I'm going to get hate for this thread, but I'm a bit fed up of seeing the hundreds of (mostly Heard) parody videos + memes from the trial, and I'm a bit sick about what they represent.
1/n
First: everything I know about the trial, I know against my will. I've never sought out, read up on, or watched videos of the trial - until it started seeking me. Until I wasn't able to escape it. Until it became pop culture the same way Trump did, *before* he was elected.
2/n
Second: I'm not going to get into the facts of the trial, because at this time, everyone has their own facts (her truth, his truth, the truth).
Irrespective of the trial's outcome, Heard has already lost. She's not a survivor, she's not even a perpetrator, she's a meme now.
3/n
I keep thinking about the 23-year-old software engineer from IIT Hyderabad, who has been caught and jailed for giving a rape threat to Virat Kohli's infant daughter.
I'm glad he's being held accountable - but it's disturbing and tragic to see: this is who we are now.
His background seems antithetical to his actions:
- He studied in a premiere Indian education institution
- He worked at a top-tier food startup
- He is a software engineer who was studying to do a masters in the US
- He is from a higher socio-economic background
- He is 23!
And yet, why would a young Indian, who was well on the path of achieving the Indian 'middle-class dream', peddle in and pursue such horrific hatred?
What's more disturbing is: this is not even a question being asked, because of how normalised and endemic this hate has become.