When will we stop making Demigods out of normal people?

KAKALI DAS

Kings and peasants, landlord and labourer, boss and servant – this difference is prevalent in the society since centuries. Some people become demigods.

Public showers love on them; they are put on pedestal. No one can think of questioning their authority. Ever step they take is calculated; whatever they do is called a masterstroke.

They have the power, publicity and money. So, they don’t know when they do wrong, they don’t know what wrong is. They have risen to the status of demigods. Their biggest strength is not position or bank balance, but huge fan following – fans that can go to any extent for their hero. And, eventually, this huge fan following is what takes the hero down.

In the last few weeks, some demigods lost their influence. Fans also realized that demigods are just humans who can make blunders too. Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, laying off employees in thousands, verification badge subscription – all were seen as masterstrokes. Musk, whose expertise is in science, entered into social media business – when someone pointed this out they were trolled.

But, the same happened what we were afraid of – Musk freed the bird of Twitter but got imprisoned himself. Top executives of Twitter have left the company, advertising money has dramatically decreased. Fake brand accounts getting verification ticks created havoc – now blue tick subscription is suspended.

Musk fans must be wondering – as Musk is the richest man in the world, he must be intelligent, so how can he make such a blunder? Also, fans consider Musk as the God or an Alien who is operating at a different level! Musk can still do a lot more. If fans had not overhyped Musk, it would not have come to this today. Now Twitter may go bankrupt.

Similar to Musk is Mark Zuckerberg – half the world is on his platforms giving him too much power. 3 billion users are giving advertising revenue to Facebook for years. But due to privacy concerns, the core Ad business is shrinking. Zuckerberg then imagined a brand new world, Metaverse.

No longer glaring at the screen – now live inside your computer – in the Metaverse. The Meta idea has not worked. Zuckerberg has lost half his net worth. And Facebook is set to have the biggest layoff – nearly 12,000 jobs.

We are aware of the number in tech – but on another field where Putin operates, we don’t know how many lives have been lost because of his acts. More than 250 days have gone by since the war began – the plan was to end within a week, and how Ukraine fought back is known to everyone. The Russian forces are forced to withdraw from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

When Putin attacked Ukraine, news channels in India jumped in. The Indian mainstream media praised Putin, and emphasized that Ukraine was being run by a comedian, a pawn of NATO. The same old story (a classic trait) – Putin is the aggressor; he may be a war criminal, but Indian media shall side with the strong, side that is likely to win! Where, support should be for the weak, the underdog, the one who is right – our ‘ethical’ media has sided with the one who is wrong. (slow claps)

This angle of slavery is the same worldwide – but, too much in our country. We devote our lives; we give out our everything to people in power. Is this keeping us from being a superpower? US, UK or France – any famous politician, entrepreneur or actor, when in spotlight is doubly criticized and questioned.

But, there are hardly any questions or criticisms here in our country. It is difficult to question politics or religion, but surprisingly, actor and entrepreneur are also untouched by questions.

Ashneer Grover is releasing his book, aptly titled DOGLAPAN (double standards). Will this book mention that his wife was sacked from Bharatpe on fraud charges, and he had to resign too? But, Ashneer was on Shark Tank – aggressive and straightforward. The show made him famous and now he will teach starting up to everyone.

Talking about start-ups – Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who was benefited by demonetisation the most. The listing of Paytm was the biggest – how Paytm will be profitable is still not known, but record was made in the stock market listing – that of crash. Falling from day 1 of listing, and 60% down from all-time high. This is the result of over-confidence, immense love of people!

Bhavish Aggrawal thought to create an electric scooter (desi Elon Musk). Only problem was that the design he acquired from Europe was not tested in Indian conditions. He was advised to delay the launch for testing, but no, he wanted to be the first to create and launch it. Warnings given, but still the scooter was launched in the market.

And, exactly that happened as predicted – it caught on fire. Aggrawal did not apologize for hasty launch, but said it was a conspiracy by petrol lobby.

Foreign funding was running the show – once it stopped, massive layoffs were made to cut costs because there is no funding. Timing could not be more obvious, show some humanity. Byjus, which is teaching the world, needs to learn more.

The question is – when will you learn that your icons can make blunders, and that they are not perfect? That is why, great Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar can tweet against the farmers, self-proclaimed nationalist actress Kangana Ranaut can use tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput for her publicity, India’s biggest industrialist Adani can take loan after loan.

It is our duty to ask questions – not trolling, but pertinent questioning – why something was done with that intent! What public figures are doing and why – it is our right to know. They will try to distract you by news such as Taimur’s morning routine, Alia Bhatt’s baby etc., but it is your responsibility to understand what actually goes on in the media, system and the government.

If we put celebrities on pedestal, they won’t consider us worthy. That is why we say don’t be a fan – use your wisdom to question everyone.

[Images from different sources]

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