Have We Really Reached A Stage, Where We Pose In Funerals, With A Dead Body On The Pyre?

Funeral selfies in social media are the latest trend. What does this tell about us? Where are we as  a society heading?

Something is terribly wrong with the world. I am not talking about the growing crime rate or the alarming pollution in Delhi. I am talking about the parallel world we created for ourselves on social media. And we are all going crazy. It’s like a new toy, that tells us, how great a life we have or how ‘good’ we are. Ofcourse, we have forgotten, that conversations can be civil and people can disagree. In social media the more rude you are, the cooler you become.

But the tragedy is that, the dire need to prove ourselves or make ourselves heard, we have gone a notch higher now. The next step is funeral selfies or photos. A day before, a gentleman in my friends list posted a picture, where he was lighting the pyre of his grandfather. The photo stated that though he was sad, but he had to be strong to lit the pyre. People jumped in with condolences. Have we really reached a stage, where we do pose in funerals, with a dead body on the pyre?

Today, you need not be a model, to get a few professional photos clicked and splash over social media. Everything, we thought only ‘Stars’ did, is within reach of the common person. But the thing is that, have we lost the plot because we got something to flash ourselves.

Not too many days ago, someone lost a child. Someone actually tagged the mother in a condolence message. Needless to say, when the mother checked the status message after a few months, all hell broke loose. We are almost losing our common sense, on where to draw the line. I have seen people tagging someone in hospital, who is going through labor and then putting up the first photo of the baby. And in one incident, the baby died due to pneumonia. So, what do you do with the tags after that?

So, what does it tell about us? That we can’t move forward, without telling the world where we had been. We want everyone to see, hear and acknowledge us. Social media gave us that platform. We can abuse, threaten, kill and put up whatever we wish, without much responsibility. Rape videos are filmed and put up, people pose before pyres, condolences are tagged, we can’t go worse than this, can we?

But this only shows us, how narcissist we have become. If you do not feel any remorse posing before a funeral pyre, something is wrong. Our need to be heard and be right has become so strong, that we are ready to let go, any amount of courtesy  a civil society is supposed to follow. We are sitting with our smartphones, counting likes and spewing venom at anyone who disagrees. Today, you just can’t go through social media, without two sections. One is called Bhakts and the other Liberals. That’s where we took our lives to.

But here is a reality check,  17% of the world population that commits suicides are Indians living in India. We occupy the 11^th place when it comes to highest suicides across the globe. The ratio of male female suicide is 2:1. Also, every 9 minutes an Indian married man commit suicide. When it comes to depression, one in every ten Indians is depressed. This itself tells, how we are failing ‘a human being’ in a society.

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Social media is no more a way to connect to people. It is mirroring, what we are within.

Social media is no more a way to connect to people. It is mirroring, what we are within. We won’t talk about sex, depression or mental health in our living room, but will shout at someone online. The insane selfies are only telling us, that we as human being still want to be heard, loved and seen. The more narcissist the trend is getting, the more it is telling us, that we are losing the plot as human beings, who need to feel in real life. We are duplicating real life with the screen life. And we all know, when both clashes, real life wins. Aamir does not need to tell, that we are intolerant. The writing is on the wall, we are, intolerant. We have become self obsessed.

The secret is, if we have reached a place, where we want people to like our photos with a death body burning infront of us, we don’t need ISIS to bomb or gun us. We will do it ourselves. We have created a box, where we keep talking about ourselves. It’s a mirror, where we only see what we decide to see and God forbids, if someone else shows us a pimple on our faces, we will go for the kill.

You don’t need to physically kill a civilization. Box the thought process. They themselves will.

Third world war, is already here. It’s not the guns or the bombs, its ‘See me here’ syndrome. Because in reality, no one is seeing anyone but themselves.  Shekhar Kapur is wrong, when he said, that the third world war will be for water, buy my word, it will be for attention. Congratulations, we are already there. Our tweets and comments are our weapons. Let’s kill everyone!

Cover image via Shutterstock

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