Media and Violence

How has the media treated the Khairlanji killings and its aftermath, the ended in large scale mob violence in many parts of urban maharshtra. News of the Khairlanji killings had been circulating in informal channels of communications established by dalit organizations. The mainstream media was apparently so clued out of this network that they didn’t realize something was brewing. Add to this the inept handling by the state government of the situation. The home minister blamed naxalites, the ISI and just about anybody, but did zilch to bring the actual perpetrators to justice. Again, his ‘conspiracy theory’ comments received wide publicity in the mainstream media.
Now let us come to the second part of the story. Everyone was taken by surprise by the violence that has rocked maharashtra over the last one week. Media commentary has put it down to simmering dalit anger over the Khairlanji incident where 4 members of a dalit family were brutally murdered by upper caste villagers. The two women were sexually humiliated and raped. The spark was provided by the desecration of an Ambedkar statue in kanpur. The strange part is that while Kanpur remained calm Maharashtra burned.
According to commentary in the mainstream and alternative media the violence that rocked urban centres in Maharashtra was spontaneous and uncoordinated. The dalit leadership, as represented by the various factions of the Republican Party is hopelessly splintered and opportunistic. According to at least one commentator this episode marks the emergence of a new movement in Dalit politics. Enough has been said about the politics. I want to concentrate on one aspect, how the media represented the entire chain of events.
Although the incident happened in end September, the national media did not pick up the story for a month after it happened. So what happened in this period? News of the ry. When an Ambedkar statue was desecrated in Kanpur the consequences were felt in Maharashtra. Mobs went on the rampage. Two local trains were burned in Bombay apart from the Deccan Queen, the intercity exress that plies between Pune and Bombay. The visuals made for good sensational footage and in the best traditions of the media they made front-page news in the newspapers and breaking news on the TV channels.
But one thing intrigued me the most. It was a report that some television channels were repeatedly airing footage of the Ambedkar statue desecration in Kanpur. This footage played a crucial role in fanning sentiments among viewers that led to the violence. It got to a point where the police had to call up the channels and request them to stop showing the provocative visuals. At least one channel disregarded that request and repeatedly broadcast the offending story.
The role of the broadcast media and its use of visuals that had shock value potential and the ability to provoke a reaction needs to be looked at more closely. By repeatedly airing this particular footage, aided no doubt by in-your-face commentary from studio anchors, the media played a crucial role in a particular chain of events playing themselves out. It would be wrong to lay the blame entirely on the media’s doorstep. Tempers were already running high and all it needed was a spark to set if off. There are many courses along which the line of events from the Khairlanji killings through the statue desecration could have played out. It is not a certainty that this line would have led to the large scale mob violence that was witnessed. But the fact that it did take this turn aided by the mass media is interesting. Was this a result that was ‘inevitable’ or even ‘desirous’ given the cut-throat media environment. After all, what makes for more gripping TV viewing than violence?
Jean Baudrillard identified the spread and saturation of the mass media as a defining feature of the post modern society. The ability of the media to create and define a reality of its own is a crucial part of the post-modern society. What we witnessed in Maharashtra was an example of the media nudging events in the direction it wanted and thus creating a situation that justifies its own relevance.

BCCI - Brig these Chutiyas some Cricketing Intelligence

The boys in blue sank to a new low the other night against South Africa. Despite a vaunted batting line up they crumbled to 92 all out against a determined pace attack. The only thing these chutiyas are good at is lining their own pockets and doing music videos. The country exploded in rage after the latest debacle. Used as we are to sporting non-greatness, even parliamentarians demanded an explanation from Sharad Pawar, the wily politician who heads the BCCI, the body that controls cricket in India.
The “gillification” of cricket is now complete. A little backgrounder: KPS Gill was an upstanding Punjab cadre IPS officer who was in charge of the state during the height of the Khalistan movement. He brought Punjab back to normalcy when others were shivering in their underpants, though his methods of combating militancy were dubious to say the least. After the militancy was put down he had nothing to do, so he became the president of the Hockey Federation. Hockey was already in decline and after Gill it hit rock bottom. Gill has been at the helm for 12-13 years and since then Indian hockey has been in the wilderness. This in a country that produce Dhyan Chand and where it is the national sport!

Moral: When sport is governed by non-sports people they make a complete pigs breakfast out of it.

So why is Pawar in charge of Indian cricket? What the hell does he know about cricket? Can he tell the difference between mid-wicket and long on? Or does he believe silly point is the position occupied by his bete noir Vilasrao Deshmukh (Maharashtra CM). Here’s a hint, it could have something to do with the fact that the BCCI is the world’s richest sporting body. It out-moneyed Manchester United 3-4 years ago (the previous record holder as richest club). It’s the usual story of how sport gets kicked around in India at the mercy of politicians and pimps of various hues. There was a report in the paper the other day that 16 freeloaders from the Indian Olympic Committee had signed on for an “observation trip” to Greece when the max limit was 8.

Pawar now gets a chance to line his pockets with BCCI money and provide jobs for the boys. This guy has no business being in charge of a sporting body. The only sport he has probably indulged in is horse-trading. What is the message sent out to players when a politician becomes your boss? The just concluded champions trophy final offered a glimpse. The now famous “Aussies manhandled Pawar” incident showed how even famous players crawled to lick Pawar’s ass. I saw the video on You Tube and frankly think its no great deal. Pawar himself did not think so. But Tendulkar, Gavaskar, Azharuddin et al pounced on the Aussies and verbally took them apart. When you can’t beat the mighty Aussies on the field why bother with low blows off it.

Pawar should be held accountable for each and every penny that the BCCI spends and each and every defeat of the team. And please, can we get some professional sportspeople to manage out sporting affairs. What would happen if jokers and pimps were brought in to run politics. On second thoughts, isn’t that already happening?

Justice for Saddam?

So Saddam’s sentencing did not have anything to do with the US mid-term elections! What absolute utter crap. Do those morons at the White House believe we were all born yesterday? They would have us believe that the “independent” judges who handed out the verdict had nothing to do with US elections. It just so happens that W convieniently uses the verdict in his desperate attempts to tout his administrations “achievements”.
Which brings us to the fact that Saddam has been sentenced to hang. The ousted dictator, true to form, would prefer to face a firing squad. Serves him well. OK, lets get one thing straight: Saddam is no angel. He ruthlessly ruled Iraq for two decades with help from his minority sect and quashed all opposition to him. Shias and Kurds are celebrating the death sentence while Sunnis are smarting and vowing bloody revenge. BUT, lets also not forget that Saddam was a SECULAR leader who despised al-qaida type loonies and kept Iraq free of them. The feeling was mutual. And, he posed no threat to the US because he had no weapons of mass destruction.
Which brings us to the question: What to make of this verdict. Absolute roobish (thanks boycott). The bloody regime whose invasion of Iraq has led to more Iraqi deaths (6,00,000 according to Lancet magazine) than during the Saddam years has the gall to try Saddam and call it a great victory for democracy!!!
Will the Saddam verdict make things any better for Iraqis. Unlikely. In fact it just might exacerbate tensions as the Ba’ath party has vowed to attack the green zone and other Iraqis. With the American casualty rate nudging the 3000 mark this just might be the worst news they have heard this month. In any case the American morons have been so incompetent that Saddam, from the confines of his cell, appealed to his Iraqi compatriots for calm! When Saddam pleads for peace you know things have hit rock bottom.
It would have been a better idea if Saddam had been handed over to the international Court. Anyway, Saddam made an absolute pigs breakfast of his trial: He harangued the judge at every turn and generally screamed his way through the trial. Apparently at one point even the chief prosecutor got unnerved. Jolly good show, that.
I wonder when Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and that whole company will be brought before a court and tried for crimes against humanity. Bush can plead “no brainer”. In his case it will be literally true too.

US Elections

As I write this post the US mid term elections would be in its last leg. I wonder if and Americans have grown any wiser than the last time. Will they vote the republicans out of power? The whole world waits with bated breath to see if the American public displays its famous streak of imbecilism once more. I mean after a host of controversies centred around the Republican party if they still vote for them then there is something wrong here.
Lets see, the incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina (they were all Blacks in any case, why bother), the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, The foley scandal, the Haggard scandal, the torture scandal, the shooting scandal, the martian scandal…that’s a lot of scandals to get going. After leading in the polls the democrats find themselves slipping in the crucial 72 hours before the polls. This is when the famed republican “get out the vote” machine wakes from its slumber and begins its inexorable march towards power. They trot out the same worn out issues of Guns, Gays and God and scare god fearing righteous red neck folk into voting for them. As for the democrats, they can only hope that all the bad news coming out of Iraq will find some resonance with the voters.

I wonder which party will triumph?