Internet Hindus

After the popularity of Twitter and the Twitterati bringing down some of the media guys by a peg or hundred, one of them, Sagarika Ghose, called the more vocal supporters of the religions native to the soil of India, Internet Hindus! What distinguishes the Internet Hindus from the others, presumably plain vanilla Hindus (am sure this is what the secular mob must be thinking of the unquestioning others as)? For one thing, they are generally articulate and educated, and thirsting for knowledge of all things bright and beautiful that the Govt. of India chooses to bring forth their way. They are also always watching the media for articles that appear to be biased, which means almost all articles from the mainstream press, given the state of the fourth estate in India and the way the world is seeing a rash of 'liberals'.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and here is one that describes the IH phenomenon better than my limited abilities with the written word. This is courtesy Swathi Pradeep, a brave lady on Twitter, whose current avatar is Archer_2011. You can see more of her comics on swathipradeep-comics.blogspot.com.



So what is it about the IH that frightens the Seculars, that calls them Lynch Mob, Trolls, Internet Hindus etc. ? It is the realisation that there exists a vast and intelligent group outside their limited reach, that shuns the partisan spin imparted by them to events, and seeks independent information from more credible sources. Also growth of this group could jeopardise positions of privilege held by the stars of the media. The global reach of Twitter has made lead time a thing of the past. When following my twitter timeline on the day of a World Cup cricket match last Sunday, comments flowed thick and fast. It was possible to follow the match just by seeing the twitter feed. Also, the comments were instantaneous so much so, often one knew about a wicket falling, even before it fell (just kidding about that last one!). Newspapers are obsolete for most of the younger generation, with such people preferring to get news online. How long before blogs also fall by the wayside? The phenomenon of instant comments that are seen across the globe and the barrage of comments and retweets that follow, renders the former purveyors of news and the opinion makers totally powerless. Further, while emails are a more private form of communication, tweets are public and are seen by many, the more followers you have the more eyeballs your tweets have. These tweets are retweeted, if they are of some substance, and several followers of followers see them. Thus what took a day or few days for an event to become public knowledge, can become that in a matter of minutes.

Tweeters are unforgiving and will go straight for the jugular in 140 characters. So the IH phenomenon has the media worried. A couple of days ago there was the news of the Supreme Court striking down the CVC appointment. When the news of Sushma Swaraj having been the lone dissenter in the appointments Committee came up, it did not take long for the image of the relevant paper to come up, with her cryptic words "I do not agree" or something to that effect. The truth was right there in black and white (or blue) and there was no escape for the Govt and their spinmeisters of the media. The PM had to apologise and take responsibility for his lapse, after the Supreme Court rapped the Govt. on its knuckles.

With the relentless deluge of news flowing through cyberspace, the Media is running scared, as the cyber journalists debunk their spin even before revolutions can be imparted to the ball! And suddenly, the much derided Internet Hindu has become a feared object. He is, in the eyes of the media, part of the Trishulati brigade, the saffron information terrorist, the purveyor of communal news to the lay secular public. But the phenomenon is here to stay and as the Americans say, will keep the media and press honest.

The hubris of TRPs and general God complex is followed by nemesis. And all of a sudden nemesis is haunting the dishonest portions of the media, people who thought that they were above God. Suddenly, some of the dominoes are falling and credibility is at an all time low, the IH phenomenon having done them in.

The fact is that several factors have contributed to the relatively sudden change in the atmosphere in the country. There is a theory that I have which is available in a book written by a person who is a financial trader and thinker. With that intriguing thought I shall leave you. More about that in my next post.