The expression- the closeted may confuse you. Am I going to write about homosexuality or what? No, I am going to talk about a much wider section of the population of India. The ones that have their own ideals and principles which are different from the majority and the only place they can express it is right where you are, on the internet. I began social networking years back when my friends asked me to join Orkut so they could connect with me more easily. But once I did join, I began to explore the mileu of opportunites in its communities. I found out that people who would dare not express their opinions in public were expressing them online, vociferously and strongly. Now, I have moved away from Orkut and migrated to Facebook. The first thing that strikes me is that it is not about simple expression,. But rather about finding an in group, where your views are echoed. It is hard to do out in the reality, considering the fact that in all my family and friends of my age, I am the only atheist and feminist. So naturally, when I extend this logic to the rest of the people, it is only predictable that they could be feeling the exact thing. I have found that though many movements start out on the net, they comprise of only the middle to upper classes and mostly they are constrained to one city or so.
Now, my question is what makes us not be wary of such in groups on the net. Why is freedom of expression practiced there and not outside? Why do I write about what I feel, but when it comes to arguing with my grandfather who says that no matter what you become, women should cook, I simply smile and let it go? I am confused. I can refuse to be served second at the family get together lunch because I am a girl, but I don’t. Instead I ferociously attack the predatory nature of chauvinism on the online communities, but hardly open my mouth in public. Why is there a social gag on our voices? Shouldn’t the system encourage us, the majority, to find in groups within us rather than discriminating on the basis of beliefs? I have to be able to stand up straight and say I have my period and I have entered the temple to prove that the sky doesn’t fall down if I do so. The other fellow should be able to express something equally politically incorrect, no matter what his views are. That is precisely what the online communities do. There is no necessity for political correctness. Your conviction is held true without judgment which might cause you any direct harm. Besides, there is always some random stranger who supports your case. It is this safety net that lets most people take that leap into the world of public opinions.
But, the real question here is, whether this helps anything. True, the ideas are broadcasted and you find your in-group, but it stops there in almost all cases. I found out rather roughly that there is a kind of social barrier which promotes isolation between these groups. For example, certain atheist groups do not encourage theists to join their discussion since they ‘preach’ to them. Similarly Pakistanis cannot have a say in Indian matters. There is almost no communication between the groups, which is rather sad. Here, social networking becomes just another vestigial tool, which majority doesn’t care to use in the right way. This social isolation or should we say virtual isolation demands of the individual that he/she be dogmatic, whether a theist or an atheist, whether a chauvinist or a feminist, whether an Indian or a Pakistani, with absolutely no say over the other. The intellectuality reeks of rotting thoughts and nothing more. We have become parodies and parrots, with no originality. We talk, we create. To what end? In this case, the system gags us again. How pathetic is that! That we allow the gag on our liberty in the real world to closet us in the virtual world! Where we are headed, I wonder!
Hopefully ‘To a future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone, to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone’.
And thus I bury my originality by plagiarizing George Orwell. Thus, we all, generation after generation, in this futile attempt to be original, do nothing but remain closeted and ape the words of the greater ones.
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