Opinion A space for being bad

Twitter may be a wonderful tool for democracy and revolution but it has pushed,rather changed,the boundaries of good taste and propriety. It may have broken down social barriers and given everybody access to everyone else,but it’s a dream tool for crazed misogynists,stalkers and horrible human beings who revel in the downfall of others. Last week,when there were mass sackings at a TV network in Delhi,ex-employees,or maybe even current ones,were tweeting the names of people who had lost their jobs in real time. Unfortunately,this isn’t illegal and we can only hope karma will catch up with them. More seriously,last month,some British women who had successfully fought for author Jane Austen to figure on a £10 note received a barrage of rape and death threats. The tweets went viral fast,spiralling into online mob mentality. The maliciousness of the attacks was disturbing enough to merit intervention: the UK Twitter chief was forced to apologise and promised to change the rules of the network regarding language. Abuse,directed at individuals,whether in the real world or online,is unacceptable. There should be no room for sexist harrassment or hate speeches in our online discourse. But how can it be controlled in a way that doesn’t interfere with our freedom to express ourselves?

Twitter is not a tiny micro-blogging site,but a huge broadcaster that has deposed dictators and created history in the Arab world. Since over 400 million tweets are posted daily,the network can’t take on the daunting task of policing content. The power of censorship is dangerous even if the world has a scary number of lunatics passing off communal hatred as free speech. Who decides what posts stay and which curse words are to be deleted? They have no choice but to rely on self-regulation. People who are being trolled or find profanity offensive always have the block button to fall back on. That’s the best option till somebody designs an app that can differentiate between expletives used metaphorically and when they violate someone’s rights.

Cursing was intended to be strictly for private talk only. But then the internet happened and the line between private and public talk became blurry. Our culture has changed,and so has our conversation. The Hindi expletive on sisters is a most grammatically versatile word,used as a noun,adjective and adverb everywhere in India. TV,or rather an uncensored American TV drama,provides a more accurate picture on how people all over the English-speaking world really converse. There is almost no scene in Homeland without the F word. An entire song in the movie Delhi Belly,“Bhaag D.K. Bose”,was an ode to a popular slang word. It’s crazy to even attempt to legislate language online. However,a lot of what’s ok in speech comes across as very angry,even threatening,when it’s written in an update. But Twitter without its variety of delightful colloquialisms and curse words would be unbearably dull and boring.

This brings us to the question,is swearing wrong? I don’t think so. The moralising and half-baked cliche still exists that people who use “bad” words are fundamentally lazy and have a pitifully limited vocabulary. This is when four letter words are flying across drawing rooms,offices and cricket pitches everywhere. We’re just more uninhibited when it comes to expressing our opinions. However,context is everything. How do you explain the alleged nerve gas attacks on children in Syria or the gangrape of a young photojournalist in Mumbai? Sometimes there’s only one word. It’s f****d up.

leher.kala@expressindia.com