#35 We've become bullies

Created: July 10, 2022 11:18 AM

Last week, Twitter went crazy on a famous Indian chef for posting a picture of coconut rice that doesn’t look like coconut rice and calling it one of the delicacies of South India

People made fun of him and started posting pictures of how ‘real’ coconut rice looks. In a way, they are right and wrong. The pictures they were posting of was of how coconut rice looks in Tamilnadu. But, it is not how exactly how coconut rice is made throughout South India. ‘Coconut milk’ rice or ‘coconut milk pulao’ is also a delicacy of South India. I know this because my mom used to make it every now and then and she learned the recipe from my grandmother. So, there is more than one variety of coconut rice that exists in South India. And, we can’t know every cuisine of all the five states in South India. Not as much as a chef who has spent several decades traveling, researching, and of course cooking.

Why am I talking about coconut rice? Because it is a classic example of how we as a society have started taking offense about anything and everything on social media. And, the worst is we started to believe that we know better than the expert who has spent several years in a field. We become angry when a post or an opinion doesn’t match our worldview. We mock them and abuse them.

First of all, our worldview is small. Second, the whole point of the internet and social media is to get exposed to other worldviews and opinions. Not make fun of others’ opinions and claiming ours to be superior. A lot of people today do this because it brings them attention and more followers.

I’ve been a smartass too! I am not saying I haven’t mocked anyone on the internet. I did my fair share. But, later I stopped doing it. I realized that by being offensives we’re creating a toxic atmosphere. We’re spreading fear among people who want to speak their minds on the internet. What will happen? People will stop speaking their minds. They will move elsewhere and the social media platforms we know will only be left with bullies and no one else.