This article, which claims that Brig Lidder’s 17yo daughter was not targeted by RW trolls, ends up pushing the boundaries of what can be considered trolling to begin with. They claim that those handles who were calling her woke (which has now become pejorative, for some reason) and that she needs ‘corrective’ action and how surprised they are that a military kid can be ‘woke’ weren’t really trolling her since they did not specifically write on her TL. That her father, who till recently was feted as a ‘martyr’ by the same people, has suddenly, due to his daughter’s weakness, as is apparent, become a ‘fallen hero’. This is how we normalise abuse.
This is the same as the honourable court which proclaimed that groping a child through their clothing without skin-to-skin contact does not constitute sexual assault. This is the same as saying that one’s poll promised were jumlas and the maker of such promises must not be held accountable for them. This is the same as saying, ‘It was just one slap, and cannot be grounds for divorce.’ This is like Yudhishthira, who never lies, to claim that he does not know if the Ashwathhama who was killed was the elephant by that name of Guru Dron’s son. The entire RW narrative can be encapsulated by this one line: ‘नरोवा कुंजरोवा’.
As has been proven again and again, the RW trolls don’t give a damn about their country or about patriotism. All they care about is their Führer. Their country, their people, their brothers & sisters, their fellow citizens, all come last. Their Supreme Leader, their caste, their religion, their way of life, all come first.
Patriotism is simply a weapon, an instrument, a tool to them. It is a sword that they use to cut through logic, reasonableness, and even empathy, humanity, and civility. And it is a shield which they use to cover their xenophobia, bigotry, inferiority complex, feelings of inadequacy, self-pity, and the resultant narcissism (remember the frog who filled itself with air to appear bigger because it was ashamed of being small?). Given half a chance, they’d sacrifice their country on the altar of the Modi-Yogi-Pragya-Narsinghanand cult in the blink of an eye. And they’d shout about how proud they feel about it from the rooftops too, claiming absurdly that the worship of the dictator is indistinguishable from patriotism, while the voices of those that truly love their country (which would mean the shared history, common values, and the happiness of its citizens before the geography limited by imaginary lines on a map) would be drowned out in the din.
