MEDIA BASHING - Topic 1.2 - MUMBAI BLASTS - the 'spirit' of Mumbai
[ME - a 20-year-old Engineering student studying in Bangalore. Been to Mumbai for a week's visit. Feel passionate about it - the most welcoming place I've been to - nobody asks you who you are, where you come from - and local trains - you are a part of Mumbai as soon as you step into one - along with blows and elbows, hands are offered, smiles are exchanged, belongings like caps and bags are returned - and you won't even get to see the other person's face!]
Yes, it's wrong - a terrorist attack on innocent people who have little time to think about things other than keeping pace with Mumbai and working for a living.
However, in this media-bashing topic, I wish to focus on the media diverting the attention from the blasts, the Govt.'s failure to protect its citizens (again, a tremendous - but not impossible task) and the pain of the survivors.
It's very easy for the media - be it those stupid news channels I hate or my beloved, trusted, knowledge-source, India Today and magazines like it - to say that - the spirit of Mumbai is insuppressible, people returned to the trains, their livelihoods the day following the blasts - well, what else do you expect them to do - sit at home and say we're scared, curse the Govt. - whose going to feed them - the media? They have NO other option but to carry on with their daily lives.
If you want to talk about spirit, visit those people who have lost their people in the blasts [Thumbs Up to Star News for showing a related piece] - talk about their spirit - how cheerful, how optimistic are they after the blasts - yes, they'll recover in time - everyone does - but the focus is lost - on the urgency to prevent such attacks, on the need to attack the issue of terrorism, to be straight with Pakistan.
Personally, I want to see news confirming that the victims have indeed received their compensation from the Govt. I want to see public awareness drives - alerting commuters, I don't want to see mangled bogies and bodies over and over again - show me what happens after the crisis. Also, tell me how you - the media - has tried to help Mumbai, the blast victims - how many poor families have you supported - how many jobs, how many scholarships have you offered - how many authorities have you questioned?
Don't just tell me that Mumbai and India bounce back after such attacks - what do you want to imply - that we keep forgetting attacks after attacks?
The BRIGHT side - a feeling of unity induced in people. The fear gets distributed and hence, reduced - you will accompany your colleague back on to that cursed route to your workplace. Also, the media ensures that such attacks are not easily forgotten - but eventually, it's like a good ad which fails to work for it's product - you are taking the focus away from the need for the counterattack, the need to tell Pakistan to stop funding Terrorism (again, a controversial statement but the media's given me much to believe in this regard too - not that I doubt them - but Pakistanis are people too - people from our own ancestral times - who wants the bloodshed - these people must be identified and eliminated). Why doesn't the media use it's spying skills against our enemies?
MORE MEDIA BASHING TO COME. MEANWHILE, I'M OFF TO CHENNAI FOR A WEEK AS I GO VISIT ANOTHER DOCTOR.
- Lohit Gupta. (Sunday, July 23, 2006, 9:30:00 PM)
[ME - a 20-year-old Engineering student studying in Bangalore. Been to Mumbai for a week's visit. Feel passionate about it - the most welcoming place I've been to - nobody asks you who you are, where you come from - and local trains - you are a part of Mumbai as soon as you step into one - along with blows and elbows, hands are offered, smiles are exchanged, belongings like caps and bags are returned - and you won't even get to see the other person's face!]
Yes, it's wrong - a terrorist attack on innocent people who have little time to think about things other than keeping pace with Mumbai and working for a living.
However, in this media-bashing topic, I wish to focus on the media diverting the attention from the blasts, the Govt.'s failure to protect its citizens (again, a tremendous - but not impossible task) and the pain of the survivors.
It's very easy for the media - be it those stupid news channels I hate or my beloved, trusted, knowledge-source, India Today and magazines like it - to say that - the spirit of Mumbai is insuppressible, people returned to the trains, their livelihoods the day following the blasts - well, what else do you expect them to do - sit at home and say we're scared, curse the Govt. - whose going to feed them - the media? They have NO other option but to carry on with their daily lives.
If you want to talk about spirit, visit those people who have lost their people in the blasts [Thumbs Up to Star News for showing a related piece] - talk about their spirit - how cheerful, how optimistic are they after the blasts - yes, they'll recover in time - everyone does - but the focus is lost - on the urgency to prevent such attacks, on the need to attack the issue of terrorism, to be straight with Pakistan.
Personally, I want to see news confirming that the victims have indeed received their compensation from the Govt. I want to see public awareness drives - alerting commuters, I don't want to see mangled bogies and bodies over and over again - show me what happens after the crisis. Also, tell me how you - the media - has tried to help Mumbai, the blast victims - how many poor families have you supported - how many jobs, how many scholarships have you offered - how many authorities have you questioned?
Don't just tell me that Mumbai and India bounce back after such attacks - what do you want to imply - that we keep forgetting attacks after attacks?
The BRIGHT side - a feeling of unity induced in people. The fear gets distributed and hence, reduced - you will accompany your colleague back on to that cursed route to your workplace. Also, the media ensures that such attacks are not easily forgotten - but eventually, it's like a good ad which fails to work for it's product - you are taking the focus away from the need for the counterattack, the need to tell Pakistan to stop funding Terrorism (again, a controversial statement but the media's given me much to believe in this regard too - not that I doubt them - but Pakistanis are people too - people from our own ancestral times - who wants the bloodshed - these people must be identified and eliminated). Why doesn't the media use it's spying skills against our enemies?
MORE MEDIA BASHING TO COME. MEANWHILE, I'M OFF TO CHENNAI FOR A WEEK AS I GO VISIT ANOTHER DOCTOR.
- Lohit Gupta. (Sunday, July 23, 2006, 9:30:00 PM)
Comments
A lot remains to be said..
Specially a journalist's rebuttal.
N SURELY PEOPLE NEEDS TO APPRECIATE D SPIRIT OF MUMBAI.....