I’m very, very (and very) tired of this, ‘You made fun of Narendra Modi plans website? You must be Congress!’ and ‘Oh you berated Congress for the Aditi Restaurant fiasco? You must be BJP’.
Life isn’t so binary. Computers are binary; humans are NOT supposed to be binary (Yin Yang, Advaita and dualism can take a hike, please). This BJP Vs. Congress cannot be a Black or White state. Not a Man or Woman state… oh wait, we have transgenders too now and they deserve their identity, sorry wrong example… moving on.
All I ask for, on behalf of all those who have read through this post till now, is that there has to be another state where we have the complete freedom to make fun of both BJP and Congress. Not just make fun, but also applaud and praise BJP *AND* Congress, wherever appropriate.
It’s called using your discretion. I face a similar issue in my music blog too. I say something negative about one composer’s a particular album and I’m tagged as the composer’s hater. But I say something good about the same composer’s next album, I’m tagged as the hater of that composer’s prime, alleged rival composer.
This, to put it bluntly, is NUTS.
This does not mean I’m a slacker and don’t believe in democracy. Not at all. I WILL vote, as I have been doing ever since I turned 21. I just don’t wear my political affiliations (or the lack of it) on my forehead. And don’t consider *any* political outfit as a cult or religion worth protecting for every second of my life, tweet after tweet.
Political parties, to me, are a means to an end – they are not the end itself. They should be subject to scrutiny, every single day, as we all are subject to, in our respective jobs and lives.
And I’d like to belong to the state where all this can be done without being judged as belonging to A party or B party. Or, C party too.
So, here’s launching the Third Front… the Twitter Third Front. Or, #t3f.
Belonging to #t3f means,
1. You do not worship a/any political party
2. You go by merits of individual acts or specific instances and do not generalize any party with a sweeping brush
3. You do believe in democracy and most definitely get your butt out to vote
4. You’re free and mature enough to laugh about absurdities in any political party regardless of which one you end up voting for
How you use #t3f is up to you.
1. You could wear it proudly like a badge in your Twitter and Facebook profile. When someone trolls you, you could simply brush them off with, ‘Err, you didn’t see the #t3f on my profile? Too bad’.
2. You could add it in a tweet that you think has the potential to go places and have the BJP or Congress fanatics troll you or judge you. Use it like the sarcasm-symbol that we have all been dreaming about… that could help avoid answering all the serious queries that arise out of a sarcastic remark on Twitter.
3. Stand-up comedians get default, primary membership into the #t3f club. If you aspire to be one, you’re already in.
#t3f is democratic. I don’t run the show here nor do I own it. I just happen to be a member.
Welcome to the club!
PS: The trigger for this post is Nikhil Pahwa’s passionate rant. Read it here ‘It wasn’t a smirk‘.
PS2 (!): #t3f does not mean you cannot vote for either Congress or BJP. No. It simply means you don’t want all/most of your tweets or social media updates to be colored as pro or anti BJP or Congress. #t3f is merely seeking freedom from being labelled as one or the other and digging a hidden meaning into your otherwise harmless quips. By all means, feel free to vote for Congress in the upcoming elections. Or BJP. Or Aam Aadmi Party. Or Kela Aadmi Party.
To explain further, the above paragraph would be construed as, ‘Hey, he placed Congress first and then added BJP. That means he must be a Congi!’. And, ‘Damn it, he made fun of Aam Aadmi Party by adding a Kela Aadmi Party. He must be a Congi or BJP-tard’. You get the drift?