The debate has started all over again — are blogs a public medium or a private medium where personal thoughts are expressed? — Thanks to the tweet of India’s minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor.
Let’s go back to where it started.
Associate Editor of The Pioneer Kanchan Gupta, in all innocence, tweeted to Tharoor:
@ShashiTharoor Tell us Minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?
11:57 PM Sep 14th from TweetDeck in reply to ShashiTharoor
And 20 minutes later Tharoor replied:
@KanchanGupta absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!
12:17 AM Sep 15th from web in reply to KanchanGupta
Few would have noticed the twitter banter and among those who would have read it, few would have found anything odd in that. That’s because weblogs (both the macro and the micro varieties) are informal media of communication. There are plenty of jokes cracked and slangs used. That’s quite the norm.
So, why this brouhaha?
We have a controversy here because the informal off-the-cuff remark was in the public domain (visible to all). What is uttered in public (whether it be a personal view or an official view) is open to scrutiny and interpretation. It’s only natural that people react in many ways to what is read and heard in public.
This is very similar to the row that broke out over what Jaswant Singh wrote in his book regarding Jinnah. That was Singh’s personal view but aired in public. BJP took offence and went as far as to throw the veteran politician out of the party.
So, what’s right and what’s wrong
There are clearly two aspects to this and similar issues:
1) Let’s remember and be aware that what’s put up on the web — be it on blogs, websites and media like Twitter, Facebook and Orkut — is in the public domain. It’s immaterial whether what is posted on the web is a personal view or an official view. What’s expressed in the public domain can’t be something private.
The only exception I can see is when these websites are “protected” or “private”; which means, what is put up on the websites can be read only by people who have been allowed by the person who put up contents on the website.
Here it is pertinent to note that Tharoor’s tweets are not protected. Meaning, everyone in the world can see Tharoor’s tweets. Tharoor has no control over who sees his tweets and reacts. Incidentally, Tharoor himself had made it very clear that he wouldn’t tweet anything that he wouldn’t have said in the open as a minister.
Thus, twitter is very much like any other mass media device — newspaper, radio or television. And it’s only natural that whoever reads the tweets may have a comment to make which also — in equal measure — is in the public domain.
2) The second point is we need not take offence to all that’s seen and heard in the public domain.
We live in an era when there is so much of information on the public domain (a lot of which could be private and personal). We need to understand this new mass media scenario.
Just as many thought that there was no need for the BJP to take offence at what Jaswant Singh had said, there was no need for the Congress to feel bad at what Tharoor said.
One, “cattle class” is a slang for economy class. It’s not Tharoor who used that word first. It was the journalist who used it. Tharoor just replied using the same expression. There was nothing unnatural in the usage.
Two, the use of “our holy cow”. Throor in that friendly banter with Gupta used it possibly alluding to the Gandhi family. I really doubt if the humour would have been lost on the Gandhi family.
The Gandhi family is as much exposed to the use of these slangs in friendly conversations as Tharoor is. Meaning, culturally, there’sn’t so much of gap between Tharoor and Sonia or Rahul.
Congress reaction was unnecessary
If Sonia or Rahul wanted a public chastising of Tharoor, then that was bad. The Congress then wasn’t behaving any different from the BJP who were criticized to be intolerant.
My guess is the party spokesperson was jumping the gun; and acting in a “more loyal than the king” manner; probably also with the good intention of reminding all party workers about the need for discipline.
I am sure, Tharoor, the diplomat that he is, would have spoken to Sonia or let her be known in no uncertain manner that it was just a casual banter with a journalist and no offence was meant. And, Sonia would have just let it pass.
Dear Pradeep,
I agree somewhat with what you have said. But as Twitter is a public domain, Tharoor must be careful before using slangs like cattle and holy cow. Tharoor is also a Minister in the Government of India.
Kanchan Gupta may have used cattle in his question, but Tharoor had all the freedom NOT to use the word/slang.
We have to be careful while using slangs as it can be misunderstood. Do you remember when we were in Ahmedabad, we (the Desk) was pulled up because we had used the word Gujju? There is nothing wrong in using Gujju or Mallu (Tharoor himself uses Mallu in his Tweets), but some may feel they are offensive.
It is nice to see a Minister tweeting, but it will be better if Tharoor thinks before he tweets, because he is a Minister.
Yes, Dinu. You are absolutely right. Twitter is a public domain, and Tharoor is taking the risk. He needs to be a bit more discreet. I am all for that self-regulation. I am myself very careful. Yes, I remember the Gujju incident.
I think Tharoor is ruffling a few feathers.. nd this is what is bothering some in the party..they do not know what to do with Tharoor who has fared well all his life without the support from the current sponsors.. he may be getting too hot too.. read about his intention to revamp MEA…
“more loyal than the king himself” is the apt way to put it. I like it. Jayanthi Natarajan was too quick in voicing her ‘shock’ but when she speaks, it is the official voice of the Congress.
I believe this would have passed if not for the bad timing of this tweet. Being on the doorstep of a couple of crucial Assembly Elections, Tharoor has incognizantly given the BJP a good strong whip to poke the Congress Party. This may force the Party to take some visible action against the diplomat-turned-politician, though grossly unfair on the man. Lets see how this one fares now that Tharoor has issued an apology through Twitter.
i pity tharoor, he should have been careful about the tweet. people out there are just waiting to bring another down, especially a liberated high flying blue eyed boy.. it sort of coincided with the Obama ‘jackass’ utterance!!
@Happy Kitten:
Ya, that is true. He seems to be quietly doing some good work. And this got noticed.
@Scorpiogenius:
This should die down, like I said, Rahul and Sonia would be mature enough to understand the spirit behind the tweet.
@Maddy:
Jealous must definitely be one factor. He seems to be doing a lot of good things.
I think that modern communication systems are a bit of a Faustian bargain.
It keeps you in touch with the world but also allows the world to touch you in ways you never imagined or wanted – you lose every expectation of privacy for one thing whether it be in thought or deed.
Even worse your capacity to think before you speak and to filter who you say what to, is dangerously eroded.
When private thoughts are put out on a mass (and boy is it mass) medium like twitter it is always open to a million interpretations none of which is usually the simplest or the most obvious one.
Twitter I think is the worst manifestation – an orgy of instant sharing that bodes ill for considered thought and opinion and alienates every notion of personal space.
Yes, it was hugely useful on occassion as it was during the Iraq elections but wonder if the price paid for 24/7 connectivity is worth it.
That aside, while this austerity drive is better late than never, I do think it a bit laughable that they are taking themselves so seriously and trying to tout it as the ultimate sacrifice.
It’s just something that by rights should have been the norm long ago. Guess Tharoor is learning fairly quickly that politics is a bed of cow dung – tread carefully or step right in and learn to manage the stink.
(Crossposted from Multiply)
Pradeep, I think the party spokespersons would not resort to bashing one of their own persons, unless there is some sort of green signal from above.
Saw, Tom Vaddakan in a tv programme yesterday and he was looking decidedly uncomfortable with the stance he was taking as the rest of the panellists appeaed to think that a hoo hah was being made of nothing.
One tweet and a lot of twats
Hari
(Crossposted from Multiply)
Hari you must’ve been a carpenter in your last birth. ‘Coz you always hit the nail on the head!
(Crossposted from Multiply)
I knew about this from India Vision’s hour long debate on the same.. Vishudha Pashukkalkoppam Kannaliclassil (Look at the translation ha ha ha )…
I didn’t see the beginning of the programme, so it took a while for me to understand what exactly the issue was.
I thought Tharoor called Sonia and Rahul, vishudha pashukkal…. Things became clear when they aired the twitter question, then I was reminded of VS Achuthanandan dog episode..
That time also, some journo had put words into his mouth, right?
BTW, I knew Holy Cow just as an expression of surprise.. Tharoor had replied that Holy Cow means sacrosanct issues or principles that no one dares to challenge and not individuals.
(Crossposted from Multiply)
One of the more balanced takes on the issue. Isn’t weird that this issue is being seen only in black and white. There seems to no place for shades of grey. People are either hysterically for or against Tharoor.
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