….. the virtual world in general, and twitter in particular,  makes for quite an interesting experience.

I don’t know whether it is by design or it just happened by default, on Twitter, i interact with a bunch of people from different ends of the spectrum – be it in politics, art, music – and with most of them it is understanding or being introduced to a different perspective or a new artist or a new media form .. Conversations are a plenty.  on random stuff like the music of the Dagars, to a release of a comic book, from how crappy a film is to how stupid a party leader is – unfiltered, no holds barred, call a spade a shovel … in 140 characters or a series of them … Mostly it is good fun. a respite from the mundaneness of everyday transactions – a nice break. The virtual equivalent of going to a bar with a cross section of the audience with diverse and strong opinions – all of them 2 drinks down.  A bit of humour, a few smilies  and a sensible diversion of topic – have you heard this or read this types – you maintain a civil ‘conversation’ the next time you ‘meet’ , a bit of ‘abbe pata hai teri maa (biwi/beti)  kal raat kahan thi’ type of testosterone (and in the virtual world it is not just men who exhibit that trait) – can be like watching a car pileup on the express way both in real time and slomo….

Like everything else, disagreements are too unmoderated ….. and it it rapidly descends past the ideological to the personal…I filtered out a few people last week – because it got vitriolic. vehement and personal  and I found myself, after a point of time, responding in kind. Personally, i like a good debate as much as the next person. but, this sort of ugliness is not really my cup of tea. I outgrew that mode of ‘you stupid’ ‘you idiot’  equivalent debate when I was 14.  I do, what i normally do when things get into a slanging match – switch off … But, i am not sure whether that is the right idea –

It is not just one section of the web population that is behaving this way. Kanchan Gupta, for example, has had his family threatened, his livelihood  threatened and his life threatened. For what ?  Holding an opinion,  ….and what about the people who makes these attacks – just because they are virtual doesn’t mean that they aren’t real – do they really think that threatening someone’s life and family is not a crime ?

People who are on either end of the spectrum – and who indulge in personal attacks behind anonymous  id’s need to realise – you are not doing your cause any good with your behavior .. For the rest, maybe the trolls don’t represent ideologies, they just represent the urge to shut everyone else up ….