“If you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed. If you read the news, you’re misinformed.” – anonymous (quote attributed to Denzel Washington and Mark Twain)

I address minorities in the title because when it comes to the majority, the media isn’t even trying to hide their hostility. Is it really that hard to wrap your head around the fact that media lies?

Let us not delude ourselves, all is not perfect in this country. The world is a grim, nasty place and incidents of intolerance and communalism do happen (perpetrated by all sides, mind you). I say this not to hate on India, but more as an acceptance of reality and an acknowledgement of our faults as a society. I am not downplaying these incidents and definitely not belittling the suffering of the victims. But here’s what you need to understand.

The truth: We are a fairly civilized country and the majority of the population are nice, normal people like you and me. They have a conscience and condemn these incidents like any decent human being would. You would know that if you spent less time reading fake news on the internet, and more time actually talking to people around you.

- Advertisement -

What media wants you to believe: “We are ruled by an evil, fascist, brahmanical tyranny!” Unfortunately for them, such incidents don’t happen often enough to support their theory. If there is a dip in the number of such incidents, any civilized, peace-loving person would see that as good news. But not these people. For them, it’s bad for business. “No incidents of communal tension? No problem, let’s make something up! The gears in our factory of hate and divisiveness need to keep turning!”

Notable recent examples:

1. “I got a semen-filled balloon thrown at me by a group of boys. Hindu festivals are an excuse to harass women!” Seriously? Like… seriously!?? Wasn’t the story exposed to be fake later on?

2. The communal twist given to the Kathua case. The masses have been so thoroughly brainwashed and so completely mentally enslaved, they instantly believed it without question when a headline said: “Hindu nationalists come out in support of rapists.” Media will cry crocodile tears over the little girl, but when it comes to pushing their narrative, they will happily throw a thousand girls like her under the bus.

3. Mind-numbingly stupid articles like “Rasam is a symbol of brahmanical tyranny” and “Bharatanatyam as an Object of Majoritarian Cultural Nationalism.” *facepalm* What next? Bananas! How about them bananas? Bananas are oppressive! Bananas are a phallic symbol of Hindutva male patriarchal oppression which is sexist, misogynist, capitalist, industrialist, photosynthesis, big words… blah blah blah… more big words…

Clearly, these fake stories are circulated with one intent – to scare the living daylights out of minorities! Anyone who dares question these narratives, even in a polite inquisitive manner, is subjected to a volley of insults and abuses – Bhakt! Paid troll! Sanghi! Sexist! Hindutva terrorist! Sensible minorities who are smart enough to see through this are called “Uncle Toms” – all bullying tactics. The same way how western SJWs call people how disagree with them “Nazis” and “Fascists” and “literally Hitler.” Indian liberals are basically just cheap copies of their western counterparts. Bunch of low-IQ wannabes trying too hard to fit in and be as cool as wypipo (slang used to refer white people) by using like words “woke” and “check your privilege” and the latest mental illness to hit the scene – “I am gender non-conforming.” Google it, it is BEYOND ridiculous.