We all know online trolling, thanks to BJP and anyone who disagrees with them, they get trolled. In recent time Shehla Rashid deactivated her account due to unbearable hate.
I have several times been trolled relentlessly for just having an opinion and there are times when I evaluate if the toxicity is worth it for just sharing an opinion, other times, I have been tempted to quietly deactivate my twitter account and be done with it .
Oh no! You are a strong woman don’t do it
The point is I have plenty of empathy but zero power to change the things which affects me. I do write about it. While I get plenty of support which am humbled by, the hate hurts. Being a sensitive person can make you enraged enough to talk but also hurt you. When people abuse you for no other reason than just to hate you . Behind every strong looking person is a heart, a sensitive one at that.
I understand that the hate is only to intimidate you or silence you , most of the people behind those handles are themselves jobless and brain washed to feel some sense of self worth & it helps them put food in their table. But when you are at receiving end of mindless hate it kind of numbs you .
I have grown so used to hate that I don’t think it will affect me in real life. Getting numb to hate is way of self preservation but it also gets you to normalise hate which defeats the purpose altogether.
I have got death threats, gang rape threats, my picture has been edited with rates & called a prostitute & am not even a politician or someone significant enough to be targeted. It is just how the social media has evolved sadly.
This toxicity while existing across the ecosystem, is especially worth highlighting when it is a woman. No woman, be it a Journalist, politician, activist, celebrity or common citizen, no one is spared from across the political spectrum. Yes we live in a patriarchal society which thrives on subjugating woman so the extension to online is not surprising. Slut shaming, body shaming, looks shaming is more prevalent and even accepted when it is a woman. It takes but a minute to send a hateful personal comment to a woman to degrade her but the hurt stays justifiable or not. And quite honestly I haven’t seen enough men defending women against such hate. As long as the woman is a political rival, more men join the hate than not. Why am asking men to stand up as I repeatedly do in twitter is because the person targeting the woman with hate is because she is a woman who dared to have an opinion, she is targeted for her gender and your gender still holds the power, I have seen misogynistic trolls shut down faster when confronted by a man than me trying to explain. So am saying step in.
Most importantly as a thumb rule, when you tweet something which personally targets a person, stop reflect, is this point am making relevant to the conversation? If not stop. I have seen several several tweets targeting Smriti Irani for being fat or for being a failed actress. No that is not the fight we are fighting, there are plenty legit reasons to criticise, please do not use body shaming or slut shaming.
I have absolutely stopped following or reading the other side of the political discourse because any engagement gets me bombarded with trolls for days. Doesn’t mean I don’t engage but I don’t in social media, it brings me down and I don’t have the mental energy to deal with it.
I wish there was a safer space for more people to express opinions. Social media cannot and should not be used only by people who can handle hate. It is a platform to get connected with people of similar or differing opinions. I wish more people talk about it and bring an end to the toxic culture. A collective voice can help initiate a change and I think it is time to say ‘I want to end this toxic culture’ because if this continues many many people especially women are going to disassociate themselves from social media platforms due to the toxicity. I wish the changes happens before I decide the toxicity has won & I quietly deactivate like my online identity never existed.
