In the era of
social
media , it has become the trend to share 'Quotes' . Find out what
you
want to say, then check out who has said a similar thing, modify
it a
bit and it will carry more weight. I have done a subtle experiment
on Facebook ,don't tell anyone, to embellish my sayings ,with some
good
background, fancy fonts and finally by appending the name of some
celebrity . It definitely gets more 'likes', thank God there is no
provision for 'dislike'.
Actually there is
no
harm in these 'shares' as long as you just keep receiving and
forwarding , focusing only on the number of 'likes' and 'shares'
;not
really reading anything, or seriously considering the contents.
Trouble starts when
some one reads and may be follows it up with some study of his own
and then he feels offended.
I have been
receiving some serious sounding stuff on parenting, attributed to
Tamil saint Thiruvalluvar. . These sayings were everywhere except
in
the only book he is said to have written ! This is one work, I
have
been carrying even on LRPs (Long Range Patrols, for mycivilian friends)...
In some of the
groups , I pointed it out, then I just got tired of pointing out,
since few read them anyway.
There was another
quote attributed to Swami Vivekananda. This was particularly
creative
as it just mentioned one part of the paragraph and conveniently
left
the concluding remark , which was 180 degrees apart. I have always
carried the complete works of Swami... wherever I have been . So,
immediately I checked back and got so upset, seeing the out of
context, mischievous 'quote' . I shouldn't have got upset really
but
somethings are beyond you . Got to be a little thick-skinned, if
you
want to surf the social media sites and also read. Who cares for
the
niceties of right and wrong and feelings of readers. Finally I
wrote a blog
post to assuage my hurt sentiments and it ended there.
So, in any group, I
think it is better to avoid 'quotes' on anything particularly
subjective issues. Once you own responsibility for your words , it
is very difficult to make sweeping statements like 'Christians are
always good' or 'Jews are always bad' , though it is convenient to
post the same as views expressed by Hitler or Pope.
Secondly, If a
quote
has to be posted why not check out on the validity, the
time, place and the purpose of the quote , by consulting Prof
Google for 5-10
minutes?
Note
This does not apply
to anecdotes which are best expressed by the narrator in his own
style.
Tailpiece :
What is a rule if you cant break it. Having spoken at length about
quotes, here's a quote by Chanakya "Rumour mongers should be
given death penalty" . I quoted this to a fellow-officer at a
lighter moment for spreading some silly rumour of some one having
received his posting order to some place. (cant think beyond). He
assumed a very serious posture and replied "Murali , I am not
spreading any rumour, I just originated it. Others are spreading
it;
go and kill them".
Cheers !
murali
2 comments:
I think even the number of stories or fables going around regarding pretty much everything from health, crime, financial advice etc are going up. If they were true, fine. I need to look up everything in Snopes.com/Truth or Fiction/Urban Legends to establish it's veracity. If it looks too good to be true or too fantastic, I check it up before commenting on it, normally it is with the quote from Snopes. Usually that is followed by utter silence on the net! What surprises me is that so many people are willing to be taken in by these fables. Don't they have what is so rarely seen, common sense?
Firstly, everybody loves miracles. Everybody likes to hear that bomb-line has shifted. No one wants to question as to who shifted it. Secondly, we all have a position on every issue, political, economical, spiritual , whatever . when one finds an opinion suiting your position a long press and a short press does it. It is quickly forwarded..... and it is eyes down for the next message.
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