Trolls of all shades

Political parties use the most foul-mouthed members to make their case on television.

Pakistan is passing through troubling times. There is an elaborate conspiracy against my country. Pakistan lost half of its territory in 1971 and our enemy wants to deprive us of what remains. These are a few lines I have been hearing ad nauseam all my life. But, something is amiss. Granted that we live in a rough neighbourhood and granted that we have lost much but no one even wants to take stock of the real situation. In our blind pursuit of self-aggrandisement we have let go of all common sense. Nations and their territories can be salvaged even at the worst hours of their history; however, the atmosphere that we are venting may not be regained that easily. Our loss of patience, tolerance and pluralism seems almost irreversible.

Perhaps the single most worrying development is the rise of trolls. If you spend some time on social networking websites you will know that there are many who are there only to insult and use intimidation to manufacture consent. In common parlance they are called ‘trolls’ and they come in all shapes, shades and sizes. And all this is not purely coincidental. Some political parties, it has been observed, have established elaborate facilities to support trolling on the net. In the Western countries, a community of trolls exists independent of political support whose sole purpose is to sow discord, start arguments, derail conversations and then boast about it to their peers in dedicated internet groups. But in a highly volatile country like ours, this is no more a game of dare. Relatively new political parties with a very limited world view use this lot to upset and bully people into submission. While many do not cave in, it affects the lives and views of many.

But how did it all start? If memory serves me correctly, the 2007 lawyers’ movement that unnerved a dictator and his coterie gave birth to this class. This was, perhaps, the time when Pervez Musharraf’s associates were so taken aback by the sheer size of the reaction to their policies that they first started using trolls on the internet and why, even on television screens, to shout down and discredit all possible dissent. With Musharraf’s departure, this class, although unhinged, didn’t just disappear. Bits of it were scooped up by all those who had once spent some time with the dictator. Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League, Tahirul Qadri’s Minhajul Quran International and even the PTI, all have the foulest trolls working in their support. And in recent times, they have all done their best to undermine democracy in one way or another.

Their antics are a serious cause for concern. But compared to what happened recently on the 10^th of Muharram it all looks like nothing but child’s play. Unknown accounts used morphed pictures to spread hate and exaggerated half-truths to whip up paranoia and spread hate. I am not implying here that this was done by the above-mentioned groups. The purpose is to just point out that we have a bigger problem on our hands. But let us suffice it to say that something sinister is at play here and since half of our political parties conveniently use similar, if not the same, methods to undermine their opposition, this problem keeps flying under the radar. Again, the purpose of bringing it all up is not to get social media blocked here but to highlight the fact that behind such practices there is infrastructure on the ground which, if used by proscribed organisations, can be busted in the real world, not the virtual one.

While trolling on the internet is enough to upset many, on television and the political sphere there is no less damage done. Political parties now use the most foul-mouthed members to make their case on television. This class is now rewarded by both their parties and television production teams for the very fact that baser instincts are easier to appeal to. But, this exercise is destroying political culture, national debates, television screens and even our collective imagination. Parties and our state both have to realise that the damage done might be irreversible and try preventing it beforehand.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2013.

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