Gypsynan

I have a peculiar fascination with letters to the editor. We get 2 newspapers, the Globe and Mail(the Canadian national "elite" newspaper) and Montreal Gazette (the most read English newspaper in Quebec) and I always read the letters right after the front page. It always makes me feel more in touch with the pulse of the readers. And of course I troll through the comments sections in Indian news sites as well as international ones. And what always shocks me is the type of comments left in the Indian news sites.

The two main targets Muslims and lefties are insulted in the most apalling profane language . I myself am no dainty damsel, but my gaalis I flatter myself are backed by a certain intellectual angst and argument.

Times of India tops the list, but Outlookindia is no better. The TOI I belive actively sponsors anti muslim tirades, while OLI probably tries to appear fair and reasonable to lefty haters. In any case these national newspapers are guilty of carrying some of the dirtiest and most hateful, inflammatory comments on the internet on their websites. The type of sites that carry these in the west are labeled as Nazi, white supremacist labels and are often hounded out by their web service providers.

All American as well as British newspapers edit out the most egregious comments from their sites. Yes, there are anti immigrant letters to the editors in both the the Sun and the Times for example, but they are always well reasoned, and profanity free. The NYT has millions of comments on their forum, but the site clearly says that hate speech will not be tolerated.

Why is this crap encouraged by Indian national news sites? Its not freedom of expression to carry letters that insult the morality of Hindu women in general (I believe these are written by Hindu fundies to inflame the moderate Hindu types) or Islm. Speech and public acts are very carefully monitored in our country, Dipa Mehta had to shoot Water in Sri Lanka because she wanted to make a film about a shameful part of our history, but if I want to say Hindu women have no morals or crudely insult Mslms , the national newspapers in India will cheerfully carry it on their sites.

I am deeply ashamed to think that if some foreigner like me chooses to research contemporary India, the impression they will get from our national newspapers, is that we are crude, nasty and dumb. While someone like me reading the letters section in the Sunday Times or New York Times, is impressed by the quality of readership and the standard of debate - only because really nasty comments are edited out. Its not as if nastiness on the internet is non existent in the West, You Tube is full of insults (e.g search Sanjaya and Shyamali)

Actually I do think most people of my generation of Indians are intolerant and intellectually lazy and worst of all SMUG! This theme will be continued in my next blog.