DIALOGUE
Every other day in media reports and their images we find a number of pictures relating to human brutality and killing. Incidents like the brutal killing of Afrazul in Rajasthan, glorification of martyred soldiers and policeman, rape and murder of Asifa in Kathua or the recent killing of 38 Naxalites in Gadachorli encounter reval how death and inhumanity are normalized in the present media culture. These are only a few recent incidents that have taken place in India but there are many that can be reported from different domains. Everyday incidences of killing and rape are normalized by the media and the audience is offered just data. The way the media represents painful images and nuances of reports about death, devastation, molestation or encounters has made the audience aloof and inconsiderate. If I say that brutality has been accepted and normalized it would not be incorrect.
There are multiple images everyday on social media platforms that show how brutality is prevalent in every aspect in contemporary times. The way death is portrayed- from martyred soldiers at the borders to the floating bodies of Naxalites rapped in plastics- these images do not pain us or do not invoke our conscience.There are many questions that must be invoked and the lost critical conscience has to be revived.
Is our inner being still alive or has the existing media culture and the paradox of modernity killed our humanity and transformed us into cold machines?
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