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The Subhuman Social Media

Illustration by Copilot Designer


I disabled Facebook on my phone yesterday. There’s too much vulgarity, subhuman crudity, on it. And the first thing I read this morning was a Malayalam weekly – Samakalika Malayalam from the Indian Express group – whose editorial lamented the treatment meted out on social media to Dr M Leelavathi, renowned Malayalam writer. Leelavathi refused to celebrate her 98th birthday because she said she was distressed by the pictures of innocent children dying of human-made hunger in Gaza. She was trolled by the Hindu right wing in Kerala for saying that.

The editorial mentioned above requests the “Hindutva handles” to leave alone Leelavathi. If Kerala’s beloved poet and educationist was moved to tears by the sight of little children behaving like insane creatures as soon as they espy some food, it only reveals the deep humanity that sustained her poetry as well as her world vision.

The editorial went on to mention that 20,000 children were killed by Israel in the last 23 months. 30,000 are seriously wounded. Prof Leelavathi said that all the children in the world are like her own children. That reveals the magnanimity of her heart. If the Hindutva people of Kerala are moved to so much hatred as to insult her with trolls and crude comments, what is the standard of Hindutva? This is the question that the editorial raises.

The dehumanisation and desensitisation that is conspicuous in the social media are disconcerting. People are viewed not as people anymore but as labels, stereotypes, or enemies. Historically, genocides relied on this kind of dehumanising labels. First you reduce people to certain labels such as ‘invaders’, ‘traitors’, ‘Jihadi’, ‘libtard’, ‘commie’, etc, and then eliminate them using means like mob lynching or even governmental measures.

Social media has no heart. It turns images of bombings, killings, and poverty into memes. The pain of the victims is thus trivialised. Memes throw a blanket over pain. Memes mock the victims indirectly. Worse, graphic videos of fights and humiliation are converted into entertainment on social media. Attacking the enemy is perceived as fun there. Violence becomes entertainment.

The worst is perhaps the normalisation of vulgarity. Crude jokes and insults flood the space. Civility is out of place there. Everyone seems to be adapted to the very low standards of discourse there.

When a government itself is founded on hatred and an ideology that encourages genocidal actions, we cannot expect rules to be implemented for containing this pathetic situation in the social media. Maybe, those who run these media can implement an algorithm reform. Instead of amplifying the vulgar and hate-filled comments and memes, platforms could prioritise constructive engagement and balanced perspectives. I hope those who run the various social media platforms wake up and do something about this problem.

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Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanSeptember 20, 2025 at 12:27 PM

    Hari Om
    Indeed, there is a reason I have very limited communications tools that I use.

    It is a peculiarity of the human psyche that we look for tribes to which we can belong. As is the case 'in real life', online it is the loudest voices who are dominant. Anger which starts out as being minimal and centred only on the individual's life is given ground on which to grow and twist. Tropes become the language without any true belief, because it suits the lazy thinking that so many prefer. We look for those who we can emulate, regardless of morals. To follow a higher level of behaviour, to rise above the crowd, takes courage and effort. Heaven forbid we should tire ourselves out swimming against the tide... and anyway, I can hide behind the ether and let loose my venom, getting my cheap thrills...

    This is the mentality now. Deplorable. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 20, 2025 at 7:43 PM

      Deplorable indeed. This tribe of people is increasing day by day. That's alarming. I used to think that people of Kerala were more sensible. I'm proved wrong. Right wing politics seems to have the same vicious impact everywhere.

      Delete
    2. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM

      Thanks for the link in your comment. That's a scholarly look at the issue.

      Delete
  2. sathishSeptember 20, 2025 at 7:21 PM

    Sir, I think the media is just media... people who uses it to gain fame and earn money create contents and people who think that is entertaining views it and makes it a trend. In general, we are moving towards a world where nothing matters emancipated by a cult of people that needs socio-cultural phycological correction!!! I see the George Orwell's 1984 in action in fact.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 20, 2025 at 7:45 PM

      Orwellian dystopia is already here. Too many Big Brothers!

      Delete
  3. Jose D. MaliekalSeptember 21, 2025 at 6:11 AM

    Suffering from a strong cold, I did not look at the WhatsApp yesterday. I stopped looking at the Facebook, four years ago. Even before that, I hardly entered it. In Social Media, the Deplorable becomes the Normal.. Anesthetization. I have sent you a YouTube Link on Modi's Royal B'day gift to those of his opponents in the Media. Like Leelavathi, I dare not waste anything in my plate. Even the last grains of rice, gravy snd the curry leaves... The image of the Gaza children, licking the wheat dust in the food truck haunts me and those who get shot at the food centres run by the UN.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 21, 2025 at 7:20 AM

      Such scenes as you mention are heart- wrenching. Those who are moved to cruel comments by them can't be human though they claim to be religious and patriotic.

      Hope your cold is under control.

      Delete
  4. Liz A.September 22, 2025 at 7:20 AM

    This reminds me of an old joke. It referred to TV, but I think it applies. "Why is it called a medium? Because it's neither rare nor well-done."

    ReplyDelete

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