Delusional expressions

In an interview during the last TN state assembly election, Cho Ramasamy was asked what would be his advice to Jayalalitha. He was quick to reply, “I will say what I want to say to her, in person. I don’t need to tell it to you or the public.” Harsh it maybe for the viewers, but that is the appropriate way to address the situation. Why should he publicize the suggestions he put forth to someone? It isn’t after all a diplomatic conversation between the head of states, the gist of which should be updated to their fellow citizens (assuming they are interested in the welfare of their nation). Those kinds of press releases are only done by politicians and sundry, to hog the limelight or for other ulterior motives.

But, in today’s networking world, when everyone is fast becoming a limelight moth, it isn’t surprising that people are fast becoming calculative termites, like their politico-businessmen counterparts, measuring every syllable they publish in the glamorous world. To thrive in the fiercely competitive space, they know they have to be up to date & witty in their spinoffs of the latest happenings of the world. Trolls, spams, viral, whichever term you give them, all they care for is to imprint their unique style in the trending topics. Is it to satiate their self-pride or is it to show off that they have – ‘been there; done that’? Maybe. Is it to grab the attention of the opposite sex in their social circle? Could be. During my father’s college days, the smartest gang of his class would be friends only with people who read ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. Is there a similar peer pressure now, if not the same? Might be.

If these possible explanations, all of which speaks about the societal awareness of the fellow citizens, are untrue, why do people wish happy birthday to their friends in facebook who they know/meet in person? Is it some social experiment on how many friends will wish the birthday kid, so that he/she can show the middle finger to the next popular figure in the vicinity? To be honest, it is fair on the part of people who might not be able to get in touch with that person, but why do people post happy birthday to their father or some relative in these social networking sites? Do their fathers measure love by how much their sons publicize it to the world? Or for that matter are they actually in these sites to see the status message?

But, social networking sites being the place where ones’ creativity is tested, those explanations are ought to be true. So when it is Rajini’s birthday, people crank their right brain to come up with something unique which will generate a lot of likes, shares and hopefully a lot of RTs. One tweets - ‘today is world style day’, while another posts - ‘today should be declared a national holiday’. But someone else tops them all by posting - ‘dear birthday, happy Rajini to you’. Who wouldn’t post such messages if it is going to give them a lot of followers later. My question to these idiocentric people who wear the mask of fans spamming the media & internet: will you risk climbing a 40 feet cut-out of the superstar to do palabhisekam if you are that crazy about him? Or at least spend a dime to send roses to his place? I am not against fanaticism or superstar for that matter; but it is disheartening to see people capitalizing on someone else’s reach for their own benefits. They are the same people who, sitting in comfort of their homes, scream against the government asking to support Anna Hazare.