Social Media and Accountability

In last few months we have seen social media gaining importance in spreading information quickly to the masses. It has been proved to be extremely beneficial for most of the people as information was available freely. It played its role in bridging the information gap and is also helpful in reducing the information arbitrage some people charge for information advantage they hold. One of the example of information arbitrage is the brokerage, real estate agent charges while helping you find a place or tenant to rent. Another one is advertisements we are forced to see while watching or reading traditional media. Now because of social media public have access to most of the information easily, hence they are not ready to let information brokers take an arbitrage as easily as they are used to. So these brokers are trying everything to stop/ prevent this flow of information. Some (like real estate agents) have tried to spam and hence make discovery of information difficult while others (like our so called esteemed journalists) have resorted to more intelligent methods like defaming (remember Internet Hindu) or seeking outright ban or control on it due to content or some bad elements on it. By saying this I, by no way am trying to defend the so called trolls (They actually are spammers who makes the information discovery difficult). But Social media is by no way responsible for what is being written on it. Holding Social Media responsible for what’s being communicated is like holding paper or loudspeaker responsible. When I saw some of the esteemed journalists holding twitter and facebook accountable for what is posted on them I found it funny and hence attempted this satirical piece on it.

Media demands ban on air and light to prevent people seeing and listening provocative views

After holding facebook and twitter responsible for recent riots in Muzffarnagar, now some people have started questioning the role of air and light in inciting violence. They argue that even banning facebook and twitter will not solve the problem as people still can see what happens in society. So according to them it is better to prevent the basic natural mechanism through people hear and see. They are seeking a ban on light and air itself so that no one can see and hear things which can cause trouble(For scientifically challenged readers sound needs air to travel through while human eye needs light to see anything, In other words more than ear and eye, air and light are responsible for whatever we hear and see). They also connected it to vision of Gandhiji and his three monkeys that conveys that one should not listen, see or say anything evil. One of them said that action against air and light will ensure a society truly based on principles of Gandhiji where no one will be able to hear, speak or see anything evil.

If you liked this, you might also like an old post about India's parliamentary practices