Posting fake pictures as your Facebook display pic is fine,
but how far can one go in this digital “feku” era just for the sake of “likes”.
A few days ago, one of my friend happened to post about the fake
images of the Adlabs Imagica accident which took place on the 5th of February where 2 visitors
sustained major injuries but some rumor mongers were spreading the news with
images of 38 (some 49!) people dying at the ride. Factually it was only
occupied by 8 people when the incident took place. Whether it’s a case of
business rivalry or just some idle brain at work, fake images have seen
regularly cropping up on social networking sites creating unnecessary
controversies on the internet.
One of the first images I do remember seeing on the internet
was the “Three-Headed King Cobra” found at some highway along the Western Ghats
in India had left me flabbergasted. Some months after the image began
circulating, yet another image appeared online, this time featuring the same Cobra
with seven heads rather than just three. The new version used the same original
image, but of course, is as equally fake as its predecessor.
However, shameful as I would say, some self righteous
individual posted the fake image of the Nirbhaya Rape Case victim within hours
of the incident coming into news. Even if we belief his intentions were right,
he totally forgot about the girl whose images he actually posted. Facebook had
got this photo removed on orders of the police department but the damage had
already been done.
 |
| 1. Fake photo of Nirbhaya. 2. Photo of the girl used to fake. 3. Fake video of Riots |
People forget about the moral rights of the person involved
in such cases, even if the pictures were true Section 228-A of the Indian Penal
Code makes disclosure of identity of a victim in sexual assault cases a
punishable offence, which restricts the media from making public the name or
photograph of the rape victim.
Another ghastly incident was when one fake video ‘killing of
Hindu youths by Muslim mob while they were protecting the honor of their
sister’ was circulated through mobile phones and internet. The horrific video
showed men in beards and traditional Muslim attire killing two youths
mercilessly.
That disgusting video is originally from Pakistan of
infamous 2010 killing of two brothers in Sialkot Punjab province by lynching
mob who misidentified them as dacoits.
The video spread like wildfire and shared by many people,
shockingly including local MLA from the region shared the video on his Facebook
profile asking people to ‘see what is going on in Muzaffarnagar’, 500 local right
wingers distributed it immediately (removed it now after a case was filed by
the UP police) and fuelled the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar which claimed 43
lives and injured hundreds and countless people were forced to flee their
homes.
This brings us to the actual underlining fact, are we really
living in a technologically advanced era or simply on the verge of collapsing
over any digital hoax. I would urge each person who reads this to think
logically whenever they come across such “Photoshop-ed” news and “share” only
what they think is right.
Do “share” this post and don’t forget to “like” if you
agree.
© Gaurav Ghosh (2014). Please do not reproduce without prior permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment