By M Reyaz
Last couple of days, there has been heated ‘debate’ among Muslim Twitterati on trolling. Here is my bit on the issue:
Trolling is another abused word on social media, as each side accuses other of trolling and take holier than thou stand on issues. When liberals randomly express themselves freely on every issue and tag and say whatever they feel like on SM they never think it is trolling.
Trolling is only used when liberals are refuted by right wingers online and bombarded with tweets; often abusive. Thus when left activists make fun tagging/mentioning BJP leaders or rabid bhakts, that rarely termed trolling by them; vice versa is. If Muslim liberals really want engagement with larger community they should also be sensitive to large community’s sensibilities. Majority of Muslims are not as forward looking, and hence if we really want to change our lot, bashing and mocking would not help, engagement will.
Self proclaimed pious Muslims too need to learn civility and imbibe teachings of Prophet (pbuh) they love to preach; bashing coz you do not agree is not fair. Particularly when talking to women, Muslim “troll” need to remember how Prophet (pbuh) treated woman who threw garbage on him every day. Finally it’s my wishful thinking, but I hope that Muslims together counter narrative against them rather than viscous friendly matches.
(Author is Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Aliah University, Kolkata. This is taken from Facebook Post with author’s permission)
