Yesterday, hate manifested itself in a very vulgar manner through Jack Dorsey, the chief of Twitter and a global leader, who runs a social platform which once championed the cause of free speech. Then it changed the laws of the game and started suspending all those handles which spread hate and disinformation. “The company’s singular priority is increasing the health of conversation on the platform”, Jack Dorsey said over and over during a recent grilling on Capitol Hill.
But in his recent trip to india, Jack was found holding a hate-poster which read ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’. By displaying, endorsing and promoting such extreme statement about Brahmins Community of India, Jack has broken his own rules of ‘spreading hate and disinformation’. A lot of people are asking why his account shouldn’t be suspended. Why shouldn’t he be labelled as a hater? Jack has spoken a lot about being objective. Despite his ‘liberal’ views he has promised the twitter users of being fair and equal opportunity player. Though the picture above doesn’t confirm this as all the people in the picture belong to the same ideology and are known to ‘hate’ the same people, ideas and communities.
Why that poster is wrong and hypocritical?
Most of the humanity all over the world is divided between privileged and under-privileged. In Jack’s own America Whites like him are privileged who have oppressed Blacks for too long. In a globalised world, big corporations exploit smaller companies and oppress consumers. Jack’s Twitter is charged for exploiting data and taking political advantage to curb non-liberal voices. Tall people shame short people. Six-abbers ridicule big people. This rule of comparison and superiority and inferiority hasn’t changed in all these years of humanity. Yes, it has been better regulated now than before due to laws. In India, upper caste and lower caste divide and discrimination has been an embarrassing issue. Post independence, with reservations and anti-oppression laws favouring schedule caste and schedule tribes have reduced this discrimination significantly and, perhaps, better than any other country in the world. Let me explain.
Brahmins were powerful because they held positions of power. Because they were educated. Their status was determined by their caste. They treated Dalits like untouchables and didn’t let them find any respectable status in the society. This was wrong but this was in the past.
Today, Dalits are in all powerful positions. Not all, but then not all Brahmins are in position of power either. Today, no Dalit is discriminated upon when it comes to admission in colleges or finding a government or a company job. Like a Brahmin police officer used to beat up a Dalit villager, today in many cases a Dalit police officer beats up a poor Brahmin villager. There are many instances of reverse discrimination. Which is equally wrong and inhuman. Earlier Dalits wouldn’t get admission in reputed colleges, today upper caste students have the same complaint as 50% seats are reserved for lower caste students. There are complaints everywhere. In my own experience, the real discrimination is between the rich and poor. A poor Brahmin has to suffer as much as a poor Dalit. A rich Dalit has the same power as a rich brahmin. On Jack’s own twitter, tweets aren’t retweeted or liked based on someone’s caste. You don’t travel business class or stay in a 5 star based basis your caste but the money in your wallet. World has changed, realities have changed, social equations have changed but some politically driven people, like in the above picture, have kept this ‘Brahmin/Dalit’ conversation alive. It’s a social sin.
I fail to understand what is it that Jack is trying to convey through that poster. If he says in his defence that a Dalit lady gave him that poster and Twitter likes to welcome all ideas then my question is that where are the other ideas? If a lady in America gives him a hate-poster against another community, can he display and advertise it? If someone gives him a poster against ‘Chinese Oppression” would he advertise it? This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.
I find it amusing that Jack himself is a Brahmin of the Silicon Valleys yet holds a poster against Brahminism (symbolic oppressor). Jack uses his father’s last name, Dorsey, yet holds a poster against patriarchy. Will he hold a poster which describes all Italians as Mafia? (Jack is half Italian). Jack, is a hypocrite.
People have been suspecting that the algorithms on twitter incentivise certain ideology and popularise hate against a certain section of the society. Twitter has minimised ‘cross-talk” and created large eco-chambers of haters. And the fact that the platform is designed like a game — one that encourages speed in fast-moving news cycles — also helps in creating disinformation. Psychologist Van Bavel says, false news and hate spreads six times faster than real news and facts on Twitter. According to his own admissions at the Capitol Hill, Jack doesn’t hesitate in curbing free speech on his platform with shadow-banning and promoting certain views depending on the rival. Like India has suffered from Caste problem, Americans have suffered from Racism. It’s in the DNA of powerful whites to hate everyone else. Jack has displayed it very well and no amount of firefighting by his people is going to help. He stands exposed for his hate and communalism. He has also made it very clear that he doesn’t believe in fair and free speech.
Being a privileged White American, Jack’s hate can still be understood but I fail to understand what were senior journalists like Barkha Dutt and Anna Vetticad doing there participating in this hate? Both the lady journalists have been aggressively vocal against caste-discrimination. What is their agenda or incentive to participate in this reverse hate for Brahmins? Have they been lying all these years? Have they been covering up their own hate for the Brahmin community by taking high moral grounds? There is not an iota of doubt that both the lady journalists have been spreading lot of negativity against the right wing Indians but this picture is their the first open declaration of hate for the Brahmin community. Why shouldn’t;’t they be charged for wilfully hurting the community and spreading hate?
I think they have lot of explaining to do. They have lot of cover-up to do for their hypocrisy.
Today, we are moving towards a new world. A world where identity lines have blurred. It’s time to change the Brahmin/Dalit conversation. We need to identify the real abusers of power. The real haters. As of today, Jack, Barkha Dutt, Anna Vetticad and company stand out as the catalysts of disinformation and champions of hate.
Fight hate. Be #IAmBuddha
Note: you can also contribute to this column by sending your ideas, stories, fables, anecdotes. I’ll use them with due credits.
