Grab bullies by horns

The year was marked with the cyberspace buzzing with a war of intolerance from fans. From vicious trolling to smear campaigns to vulgar threats, the self-proclaimed warriors went to any extent to ‘defend the honour’ of their idols. Most of the victims of this organised cyber bullying were, interestingly, women, showing how deep misogyny ran and how easily these ‘fans’ were hurt, unable to stand a light comment, a genuine opinion or even a sarcastic reference. The most-viciously-trolled women include actresses Parvathy and Anna Rajan and journalists Shani Prabhakaran and Dhanya Rajendran.

While it was Parvathy’s mention about the sexist dialogues in Mammootty-starrer Kasaba that triggered the abuse, two-movie-old Anna Rajan faced the wrath of the super star’s fans for her response to a query in a TV show on who she would choose as her hero between Mammootty and Dulquer Salmaan. Her casual response that she’d play Dulquer Salmaan’s heroine if Mammootty played his dad; or if Dulquer played Mammootty’s dad, she would act as the latter’s love interest. In no time, her Facebook page was flooded with a torrent of abuse, forcing the actress to tender a tearful apology to the star and his fans on FB live. Even fans of the other M, ‘showed their strength’ to journalist Shani Prabhakaran after her negative review of Mohanlal-starrer Pulimurugan and unleashed violence on social media for ‘insulting’ their idol. Another Malayali journalist, Dhanya Rajendran, too faced the heat after she tweeted that she disliked the SRK-starrer When Harry Met Sejal as much as Vijay’s Sura.

‘No one has a shield of anonymity’

There are people who think ‘what’s wrong in trolling?’ A spontaneous reaction to a tweet from 50 or 500 fans is different from an organised attack by over 5,000 people. They never let an issue die down and trigger it off every day. The same thing happened in my case and Parvathy’s case.

Facing cyberattack is a soul-killing exercise. It was really harrowing to go through the most abusive messages to file a police complaint. There are rape threats from persons who you don’t know or might be living around you. It might even be an 18-year-old boy; the thought is very scary. Do these people have any respect towards anybody?

When I filed a police complaint, one of the guys applied for an anticipatory bail at the Madras High Court. His mother called me pleading not to spoil his future and when I talked to him, I found that he had no idea about who I am. He just felt that I was a fan of another Tamil actor and was degrading his idol, a thought that made him take part in the abusive campaign. Fan accounts are managed by several persons who have no idea who all post abusive comments and to what extent they go. Another thing you realise is that there are women who are patriarchal and misogynistic, like the woman named Suja who put up a post against Parvathy.

The bullies believe that they have the power of anonymity. It’s high time they realise that there’s no such power and that any account can be traced.
Only the actors or political figures in whose name this happens can put an end to this. Unless they address their core group and say they would distance themselves for these bullying fans, this is not going to stop. Ajith and Vijay responded after I was trolled, but in Kerala, despite several such instances, our stars have never intervened in the matter strongly.

I am a person who advocates for freedom of expression. You can allow Parvathy to criticise and can debate with her. But the moment you descend to threaten a person with sexual harassment, your freedom ends there.

‘Cusswords can make you cringe only once’

Online abuse, be it from fans of political leaders or superstars, has now become a part of my daily life. What’s new this week is the question I face every day. It first began as a fake news that Rs 7 lakh black money is stashed at my home, after my programme on demonetisation was aired. Then came corruption allegations and after the Pulimurugan review, it was profanities and threats all over my social media accounts. It was disturbing at first, but now I can easily laugh about it, because a cussword can make you cringe only once. Then you become insulated.

I have found the attacks fall under two categories. One appears serious, laying out seemingly-fact-filled opinions like how I am degrading a noble profession and the other, a stream of expletives. I tried ignoring it all first. But once the tone changed to rape threats, I filed a complaint. Most of those came from fake IDs that could be traced to foreign countries. Later, I realised that I will have to file complaints every day and I stopped.

I don’t mind creative criticism; that helps your professional growth. These types of attacks show their standard and I am ready to show mine. Let them say whatever they want; this is never going to affect me.

Troll victims

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan was trolled heavily after he, allegedly uninvited, took a Kochi Metro ride with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries during its inaugural run.

Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam's wife Sheela became the butt of jokes on social media after her interaction with a TV journalist resulted in the creation of hilarious trolls, memes and spin-offs.

Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, post IS captivity, praising his captors despite them murdering two nuns in front of him, saw him becoming an object of
mockery as memes even as Stockholm Syndrome
theories did the rounds.