The firm red pill poppers

While most people try their best to be politically correct, only a handful are choosing to take the red pill, which essentially means — opting to be politically incorrect and controversial in one’s beliefs. Triggered by popular website 4chan’s discussion board, a number of youngsters all over the world and even in namma ooru are a part of this sub-culture that is increasingly gaining popularity among the youth.

A few youngsters from the city share their thoughts on ‘red-pilling’ and its association with the rise of conservatism (to follow even political beliefs that are old school), all over the world.

From Trump’s surprising  winn to the imminent Brexit and the rise of conservative politicians like Marine Le Pen and Theresa May, a lot of people are open in support of this conservative phenomenon. “Political correctness has become more important than the truth now and it’s all because of clickbait sites that are doing everything they can to generate content under pressure, without doing adequate research on the matter,” says Ahmed Shariff. “Trump has been portrayed as a racist, misogynist and homophobe but if people actually did research rather than believing the first thing they read, they’d know better. And when we try to educate people through our social media posts, people end up lashing out at us and calling us names. I am a Muslim and have done adequate amount of research to know that Trump’s ban isn’t on Muslims, it’s a temporary travel ban. It’s just that today, people think they are very well-informed but need to look at both sides of a coin, think for themselves and then make decisions,” says the local comedian.

Agreeing with Ahmed on the matter at hand, Sumit Suvarna opines, “We live in a very hypocritical society. I am very vocal online, and love to speak my mind and have noticed that it’s completely okay to make fun of majorities. I’m a Hindu and make fun of my kind, American’s make fun of themselves but once you say something about Muslims, you are labelled as Islamophobic. If you poke humour at Dalits, you are casteist and if you make fun of African Americans, you are racist.” The local emcee adds, “There is a certain level of herd mentality present in the society and I think people get influenced and do things they don’t really believe in as a way to fit in and be accepted by others they feel are of some importance. I blame the Internet for this. Before the advent of the Internet, people shared opinions and had healthy discussions — all points of view were heard and effort was made to understand where the ideas were coming from.”

Rajorshi Bhattacharyya, another youngster believes it’s more important to have the right to be non-politically correct, than being politically correct. “The idea is to combat controversial viewpoints by evaluating the merits of arguments being put forth and shutting the debate. Instead of debates, those who state controversial opinions in public stand the risk of losing their jobs, or getting doxxed. These silencing tactics are what most of us are against. I also think people are more sceptical of clickbait websites that have sensational headlines. The content creators of these places who are beholden to no one, come up with content that is biased, incorrectly frames people by misinforming them and sometimes even spreading propaganda,” opines Rajorshi, in conclusion.