I received this shocking e-mail newsletter from some site called Radio and Music dot com.
It made me cringe.
And why?
Because:
– When people die after living their lives, we write obituaries about them.
We CELEBRATE their existence.
I personally have written two recent obituraries of two outstanding people who passed away before their time, but they went away like some people do. See obituary for V. Ramani, and obituary for Prabuddha Dasgupta.
– When people unfortunately die in accidents or mishaps, we MOURN them.
This is a catharsis and helps the distressed families, friends and well wishers of the person who passed away, to gain strength and to move on.
– When really unfortunate cases like the above incident happen, we KEEP QUIET.
WE PRAY. IN SILENCE. WE OFFER PRAYERS in our minds.
We don’t broadcast the news and call it ‘a special update’ and bang the drums to announce the SADDEST day in people’s lives.
Personally, I forgive everything, but this…..
God help Varsha’s transition into her afterlife and also forgive those who trespass the basic norms of human dignity…
********
sanket bhatt
Totally agree with you Alok. Being in Media doesn’t means to Hype every news. Sometimes the TRP & Hit game has to take a backseat. Nothing is more important than Human Emotions. There is a difference between updating and posting news and hyping the issue, which many people in this field fails to realize.
Dhaval Parikh
Look at this The heading says Why did Asha Bhonsle’s daughter shoot herself
Abey John
Come on Alok, this is just news, somebody is cashing in. You did something similar with Osama na?
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
cool.
Osama KILLLED people and WAS EXECUTED for it. The world (at least I) celebrated
This is SUICIDE
Abey – u know the difference??
Abey John
Aaah mancha, I’ve been reading the Gita. Disengaging from attachments…. yes Osama killed. Yes Varsha committed suicide. But aren’t they both reacting away from the system? I have no problems with Osama being assassinated. He killed innocent people. But … I just can’t seem to rejoice over it. The US through its policies has killed more people than Osama ever did. So does that make them right? This was part of a global ideology war….
It is – I don’t know what the term is – to rejoice over violent death. If he had turned out right he could have been a shining pillar of peace.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
if he had turned out…??????
are u talking to urself?
Abey John
🙂 something like that.
Sukirti Shelley
Abey,
I think that is exactly the point that Alok is trying to make, to quote you “Somebody is cashing in” on it. The website promoters have been insensitive and have crossed their limits!
How can you cash in on somebody else’s personal tragedy? It’s very easy to take a step back and say that “Hey, they are just cashing in on it” but bring it closer home and I’m sure you would not be making the same callous comment as the one above.
And what does it say about their business? Are they that desperate that they want to cash in on someone’s pain?
More importantly I feel what do we as a society have to do about such insensitivity? Should be allow media/businesses that “cash in” on somebody’s suffering? Have we as a society really reached that level of decadence that it’s “ok” for us to tolerate it? These are some questions that need a serious collective thought and action.
@Alok: I do think Abey has a point when he says feeling happy about Osama’s death is also not right. I felt the same way about Kasab’s sentence as you did about Osama. But after a while I reflected and realized who am I to be happy at somebody’s death even though his actions have lead to many people’s death. And more importantly what does it have to say about me as a person who is happy for another human being’s death, no matter what the cause. It is a sad event and nothing to rejoice about.
Abey John
I agree it is callous but that’s how the news industry operates. Yank a chain, get a reaction, improve your metrics (pageviews, TRPs, etc). The Jerry Springer Show ethic rules. This is part of the detritus of the market economy that feeds off our Lizard brain.
I guess there could possibly be some regulatory standard but all laws are a fudgy line of perspective which as soon as they gets defined some shyster lawyer will work overtime to figure out a loophole in. And then we’d need to define more laws to close the loop hole ad nauseum.
The only hope is – in this context – that we get over our Lizard brain addiction. Kill it by ignoring it. You can’t sell to a market that doesn’t exist. And I think I better shut up or I’ll spend furious hours workin up a righteous froth over nothing. 🙂