I got really annoyed with I read an article that Sindhu had linked to. Apparently some bloke made a video and put up a video poking at Mahatma Gandhi. While I find it as offensive as everyone else, I turn a deaf ear and go on with my work. But the Karnataka High Court went and issued an order against YouTube and Google. My question to the court: What in god’s name are they thinking? That suddenly the heads of google will fall down and beg for forgiveness, or something like that. Jeez. The High Court has enough pending cases such that it’ll take years to solve all of them right now, and they’re too bothered about a sodding parody video.
I know many people will get offended that I’m not with them. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t say that you shouldn’t do something when the father of your country is being mocked. All I’m saying is that you should learn some tolerance. For gods sakes, isn’t nonviolence and truth and stuff what Gandhi strove to teach?
I have summarized my point of view in four points:
1. If Gandhi was here now, what would he want the court to focus on: Solving things related to murder, corruption, land disputes, etc, stuff that matters. Or would he want to spend all time and energy and challenge one of the biggest companies in the world all because some bloke made some video.
2. If every site and video related to something mocking George Bush was removed, the whole internet would be destroyed. Now the US is focusing on important things like occupying Iraq and making the world obese with McDonalds, and the people are quite happy parodying anything in peace.
3. The terms and conditions of any User Content Driven websites like MySpace, Youtube, (shudder) Orkut, etc state that the company is not responsible for any content posted on the websites. Most law enforcement bodies in India, unfortunately, don’t seem to be too well versed with the Terms and Conditions, let alone computers, so they go directly to the source, and threaten and issue orders, as they would normally do to any company or person in India, and the company’s lawers will be waiting to eat their testicles for breakfast if they try anything harsh. In fact, the companies somehow comply, and politely ask for the video to be removed.
4. If Rushin was here, he’d make a big deal about freedom and junk like that. That people can make any video that they want, and quite frankly I’ll have to agree with him on that one. Just because you’re an idiot and think you’re being smart and extracting a few cheap laughs by desicrating a symbol many hold dear to them, you’re really not doing anything wrong. By doing anything, I believe you can be offending someone else.
At the end, it all just seems like a big political stunt, with the police trying to show around some muscle to the big corporate companies and the companies comply only to get rid of them quickly. And in the end, though all real evil will still prevail, every resident of India will sleep sound that any national symbol of theirs is not being desecrated by someone on the Internet(though fewer than 3-4% have Internet access) and the world is safe again.
i wasn’t saying talking about personal freedom to making parodies, i was only wondering if this were to continue, we’d have to face the same insanity that Chinese government is showering people with. have you heard of their crazy internet addiction control centers??? it is really very sadistic.
you are right, how many of us are really offended? i am not. i don’t see the point, i don’t see the fun in it either, so all the feedback i can give to such content is a plain blank expression.
the fact that high court actually issued notice and has taken action on this IS the alarming. thats all.
PS: out of place this one but when i returned back to comment, the “welcome back sindhu” hid the anti spam word column, whats the point of the well hidden welcome back user text?
uhm am glad what i write on my personal blog in turns sparks another post;]
Firstly… nice to know that Andy is maintaining his Blog and is taking it seriously… Secondly.. Also surprised to see him write on serious stuff. Well coming to the Gandhi thing- I completely agree with Andy in this one- there is lot of things in this country that need our attention(by our I mean not just us, but the courts and the Politicians) and we should not forget our primary goals and targets.
What is it with India’s latent technophobia and all the bad press relatively benign networks like Orkut are getting? Remember the “Orkut murders”? I say we take these hyperactive, pseudo-conservative dimwits out to the Lakshadweep Islands and shoot them all twice in the back of the head, assassination style.
Okay, I goofed up. There’s only one “Orkut murder”. Sorry, my bad.