Toxic Mob Mentality Is Setting A Dangerous Precedent On The Internet

Anish Bachchan

3 years ago

Trigger Warning: Mention of violence, abuse, racism, homophobia

In the past few months, the internet is becoming a huge cesspool right now. Not to mention that global geopolitics is also playing a profound role in the rising toxicity on the internet. And when I’m talking about global geopolitics, I mean to say that Israel and Palestine are at each other’s throats again and their rivalry is killing people on both sides and the international community is in complete disarray.

The internet or rather the social media being a pile of crap that it already was brought the worst out of people and the people from both sides are just being completely merciless against each other. I mean look at what’s happening to Gal Gadot and Mia Khalifa. They’re being mauled by the mob for supporting either Israel (Gadot) or Palestine (Khalifa) respectively.

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I already talked about the worst of the mob mentality on the internet at the height of the Farmer’s Protest back in February. I’ve also mentioned how the social media tug-of-war made us turn a blind eye to the reality of the situation. It’s just the same thing here but worse. I won’t talk about this any further because I might say something wrong that’ll offend the mob from both sides and I might be game-ended online.

Alright, this is just one incident, let’s talk about the internet. I feel like as the year’s progress, the internet is becoming more regressive and pro-censorship online. I mean the biggest tech companies, the likes of Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple etc. that have a huge influence, power and monopoly on the internet and social media might go out and abuse their power for their own interest.

Look at YouTube, in 2017 their demonetization policies have brought a lot of backlashes because it has the potential to harm the livelihood of the creators. YouTube wants to make its platform a safe space (more like a save-face, to impress its sponsors and brands just so they can get their juicy ads).

Creators once revered YouTube for being creator-friendly, now with soulless corpos, late-night shows/network television companies and even celebrities taking advantage over the post-Adpocalypse YouTube, especially in the aftermath of T-Series vs Pewdiepie (T-Series overtakes Pewdiepie for the most subscribed YouTube channel), this signals a huge problem for the creators where their voices won’t even matter anymore.

They care more about themselves than about people due to the lack of transparency between them and the people. Perhaps it’s already too late. YouTube really has become a shell of its former self. It isn’t just YouTube. People’s perception of social media is changing ever since the Cambridge Analytica scandal where the question of privacy on social media was raised.

Another example is Tik Tok, another popular social media platform that has been accused of sending user data to China, so much so it was actually banned in India (alongside other Chinese Apps in India) in the aftermath of the Galwan Valley incident. Even WhatsApp faced its issues regarding privacy a few months when they brought their new policies which became a huge issue. To think that tech and social media corporations/conglomerates have the power to manipulate our privacy is a very dangerous issue and it has the potential to change the shape of the masses as they see fit and they can cast aside anyone who doesn’t abide by their moral compass and their status quo.

Reminds me of the Big Brother system (thought police) implemented by IngSoc in 1984 or the Fascist state in UK created by Norsefire Party in V for Vendetta.

Another problem which is rising right now is the audience themselves especially with the rise of stan culture. Stan culture alongside the cancel culture, mob mentality, outrage culture and political correctness have are les enfants terrible of the internet.

The word stan originates from Eminem’s song “Stan” where a fan’s obsession for his idol has led to his death. Recently it has become synonymous with being a fan of a celebrity, a franchise or whatnot. Obsessive fans consider themselves as the badges of honour even though they haven’t done anything special other than ‘simping’ for franchises or celebrities. I saw Star Wars fans fighting against each other before the dreadful Sequel Trilogy arrived. I saw One Direction, Justin Bieber, Five Nights at Freddy’s fans and Weeaboos coming after me whenever I made jokes about their idols. Those were the good ol’ days.

Anyway, K-pop stans are some of the worst fanbases I’ve ever seen. As of now, K-pop bands like BTS and BlackPink are the most popular on the world stage. And they have millions if not billions of loyal and dedicated fanbases. Their music is also catchy yet good.

The problem is, their fanbases are very toxic and will get defensive if you say anything about them or their idols. I saw K-pop stans attacking Ethan Klien of H3H3 over a joke, I saw them attacking a YouTuber Kavos for calling out their idols for their mistake (It was a road accident). I mean the fans will do everything to justify their actions.

Another example of the toxic side of the stan culture is the Dream stans. Dream is one of the most popular Minecraft YouTubers in the current internet space. Amassing over 22.7 million subscribers on YouTuber Dream has become one of the YouTube elites, but that doesn’t mean he is without controversy. Last year, Dream was accused of cheating by a small YouTuber. The latter was then been harassed by Dream’s stans which has created a toxic environment. Just a few days ago, Dream confessed that he actually cheated on Minecraft. His fans however were supportive of him even though he deserves to be called for his action. A video by YouTuber Bowblax shows, Dream stans justifying his actions by telling the public “He MaDe A MiStAkE”. The comment section on Bowblax’s videos say otherwise. Here’s the excerpt of the comment I wrote on Bowblax’s video.

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“This is what happens when someone like Dream gets put up on a pedestal by an army of immature brats who believe their god can’t do no wrong. The Dream stans are just on a par with K-pop Stans and Carryminati fans (the largest subscribed YouTube channel in India). They’re equally toxic and they’ll try to justify their precious gods’ actions. It’s like their raison d’etre. And if anyone calls their gods out for their mistakes, their toxic fans will attack you in the worst possible manner.

The one who accused Dream of speedrunning got harassed by Dream’s toxic fans. And even if he admitted what he did, the damage was already done. It took him months to apologise for his actions and the fans just let him get a free pass rather than condemning it. Had it not for them, his reputation or his career as a whole would’ve been damaged but instead, he got off scot-free. I wish they understand that they don’t need to justify their precious messiah’s actions every time and should make them hold accountable for their grievous mistakes. Albeit I doubt this will happen anytime soon. But in its just bandwagon and mob mentality, nothing more. And it’s pathetic.”

And when Yalgaar was released, the toxicity of Carry’s fans escalated even more. This isn’t to say that the whole mess was Carry’s fault entirely. The fault also lies on YouTubers who’ve capitalized on this feud to make this pointless even more unbearable. They’re the ones who’ve brought the platform at its worst all in the name of being edgy. No wonder why I’ve respect for them.

Carry Minati. Representative image only.

Speaking of edgy, I think it is becoming very apparent that people on the internet are bringing up some celebrity’s past jokes or tweets to cancel him/her. In my opinion, cancel culture has already stooped so low and with COVID people now have a lot of free time which is now being used for the wrong reasons. For example, Disney fired director James Gunn (later reinstated) for the jokes he made 10 years ago and then they turned a blind eye on the Mulan Actor speaking in favour of the Chinese state-sponsored police brutality in Hong Kong(Did I forget to mention that Disney worked near the sites of Uighur concentration camps in Xinjiang region of China). The reason I brought this up is that Chris Tyson who was one of the friends of the popular YouTuber Mr Beast came under fire for the edgy jokes he made 4 years ago.

Now it’s understandable that jokes can be offensive and hurtful to a certain group of people and they have a right to call them out for it. But if they’re gonna dig on someone’s past and then starts calling them names like racist, homophobic, transphobic without knowing the context that it was used as a joke then they’re just plain ignorant.

4 years is not a distant time but people do change over time and their actions define more than their words. To add things up 2016 and 2017 were the times when edgy jokes are accepted back then. In this day and age, making such jokes are like treading on mighty thin ice.

It’s okay if you’re sensitive over jokes but being oversensitive over everything is not really good and often it is very counterproductive. If you’ve seen over the past few years, the word “accountability” has been used several times if someone makes a mistake.

And in my opinion, the word “accountability” has lost its meaning. It means- the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility. Nowadays the word “accountability” has been used as an excuse to make the cancel culture advocates feel better. In other words, accountability has been thrown around by social media activists/ cancel culture advocates to get more validation. Furthermore, they wanted to feel themselves more important when they’re really not. Here’s the tweet I made about the Chris Tyson situation.

“@bargadbala97

No offence, but if you’re gonna waste your time digging on someone’s past then you do you. But it doesn’t change the fact that cancel culture is really toxic. If you’re offended it’s understandable but every time I hear the word “accountability” it sounds like a mere excuse.5:51 PM · Apr 10, 2021”

Even the word “privilege” has lost its meaning. Nowadays it’s just thrown like a wrench by the social media activists who would love to attack people who don’t want to be a part of their social media politics. It’s really unfortunate how things have changed for the worst in just a few years. So throwing big words like privilege or accountability doesn’t make you validated and important. It just makes you look like an entitled child.

I believe unless a person can only be cancelled in social media if they’ve done something heinous. I mean, the cancel culture advocate would attack someone over a bunch of jokes that were made 4 years ago but they won’t do the same thing to people like Roman Polanski, a Hollywood director who raped a teenager in the 1970s and has still not been punished for it (he fled the US and has resided in France ever since).

And Hollywood still puts him on a pedestal like how they gave him a standing ovation in the 2003 Oscars. It (Funny how Hollywood preaches feminism yet they gave rapists and women beaters like Casey Affleck, Harvey Weinstein, Mel Gibson and vice versa. Oh, they also have alleged ties with the sex offender and former financier Jeffrey Epstein)

Hell someone as popular as James Charles was found allegedly sexting minors. It’s funny how the audience is fickle-minded and have selective outrage. It’s like raging on a stone for hurting a toe while ignoring the charging boulder that could crush an entire leg. I mean, some celebrities are actually criminals like Weinstein and you’re worried about an edgy joke that was made 4 or 10 years ago.

I don’t know what the future holds but if we don’t learn from our mistakes sooner or later, it might not end well for us. That’s why we need to tread carefully, the reason being that these recent trends and issues are becoming a dangerous precedent that might be harmful to us in the future. The over-sensationalization of current affairs on social media, the mass censorship of the internet by major tech companies and even the collective toxic behaviour of the audience. They’re just the beginning. Who knows what might come next? I just hope these issues are sorted out soon, but I doubt it’ll happen.

1) The MC Kode Situation– MC Kode was a rapper who unfortunately became the Rhea Chakraborty of the rap world. By the end of May, he came under fire for saying something controversial almost 5 years ago. There was a video of him cursing at the Hindu religious deities and scriptures and that video went viral. Because of this, the dude got a ton of hate from the online 12-year-old mobs and he also lost almost a dozen of brands and sponsors. Even though he apologized for what he did, the online mob mosquitos being pathetic as they already are took a step further and doxxed him and harassed even his family members.

Now I’ve watched his video and I must say it’s a completely stupid, Hindu-phobic, regrettable and really game-ending move. It might even be “criminal”. But aren’t we all edgy once. A few years ago when I was on Google Plus, I’ve seen people making 9/11 or religious jokes. I too was was part of the edgy culture as well because I want to imitate Filthy Frank or Idubbbz. While being edgy I’ve made a lot of offensive jokes.

Jokes that have the capability to harm someone. When I left Google Plus in 2017, I started regretting it and I swore I’ll never make jokes like these in public anymore. I think I’ve written about this in my other post “Why I’m Disillusioned with the Edgy and Woke Culture”.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is what we say might be regrettable and we try to change ourselves over the years. What MC Kode said was wrong but if he’s apologizing for it then why don’t we give him another chance. I don’t know him personally but I think he might have changed over the years. (oh wait, he went missing after posting a “suicide note” on his Instagram Story.)

It’s really funny that the online mob is going out of their way to harass and judge the rapper and his family as if they’re the Supreme Court of India and they pretend to be lawyers like Ram Jethmalani or Nani Palkhivala. Yet I’m pretty sure they listen to one of the greatest rappers of all time- Eminem. Eminem is a GOAT, there’s no doubt it. His songs have changed the shape of hip-off and have influenced millions of people. His song “Lose Yourself” won an Oscar making it the first hip off song to do so. Yet he’s not without controversy.

In his career, Eminem has insulted Presidents, the LGBTQIA+ community, women and so on. He was even sued by his own mother and ex-wife for insulting them in their songs. So if you’re the type of person who’s attacking MC Kode and his family for the things the former said something 5 years ago and then you listen to someone like Eminem who also said controversial things then you’re a hypocrite. Other rappers said something like Eminem. Notorious B.I.G, Tyler the Creator, Odd Future, Tupac, NWA etc. have said controversial things in their songs but that’s what makes them one of the GOATs.

And If MC Kode were to punished (hopefully he’s found, safe and sound), he must be punished under the rule of law. He must be punished under Sections 295-298 of the IPC which punishes a person for insulting religious sentiments. He must be punished by the courts. ut this is the online mob mentality in India we’re talking about so obviously their outrage will be selective. Elvish Yadav, a YouTuber loves to preach about how Hinduphobia exists in this day and age of young people and yet he doesn’t practise what he preaches(he himself has insulted the religion). But the mob won’t call him out for this because he’s a popular YouTuber but when a rapper (who are often shat upon) does the same thing the mob goes on rage mode like that kid on Minecraft who went full Godzilla mode after he was IP Banned.

2)The Paras Singh Situation- Now we all know that PUBG Mobile is coming back to India after it was banned by the Government last year. But an MLA from Arunachal Pradesh, Ninong Ering feels otherwise. He believes that Tencent a Chinese company behind PUBG Mobile, might be indirectly involved with the game’s rerelease and it might affect India’s security. So he requested the PM on Twitter that the game remains banned for reason of national security. To that, I agree with him to some extent, given the fact that Tik Tok also had its controversy of selling private data to China and Chinese companies and conglomerates are not really the trustworthy type when it comes to privacy. (Although I have a Chinese phone).

So how come one tweet ignited a spark that created a huge controversy in the first place. A salty PUBG YouTuber kid named Paras Singh. The kid made a fool of himself when he made racist remarks in his video(now deleted) against the MLA and the Arunachal people calling them “Chinese” because the state borders China. First of all why in the world would he attack an MLA. Imagine if the MLA takes action against him then he’s already screwed. (Oh wait, he’s already arrested).

And Paras wasn’t the only one who’ve made racist remarks. YouTubers GTX Preet and 420 Gaming have also made racist remarks against the MLA and when Paras was arrested, they immediately apologized for it(Paras also made an apology). All of their apologies were half baked and have received backlash(at least MC Kode’s apology seems genuine). Paras’ own mother apologized on his behalf which I think is pathetic. Why would he drag his own mother for the mess he made?

I think it creates a huge debate about the issue of racism that is happening. When an NRI or an Indian faces racial attacks all over the world we protest on social media, on the streets and the roads but when that same thing happens in India, we don’t even bat an eye. Hell, we even treat people who come from African countries as garbage. The same goes for the North-East Indians who face racist attacks because the border of their state with China or their cultures is different. They are not even treated as Indian citizens just because their faces and languages are different from the lingua franca in all over Northern India.

YouTuber WhoCares expressed how racism has ingrained in our minds when we watch shows like Taarak Mehta ka Oolta Chasma or the Kapil Sharma Show that has a lot of race jokes. Things got so bad when the North-East Indians faced racist attacks at the height of COVID-19. They’re not the only ones who face such racist issues. Biharis, People from UPs, South Indians, Punjabis, Kashmiris, SCs, STs have also faced racism in India and all over the world. I remember when the people were killed in the Wisconsin Gurudwara shooting or when the Rahul Raj encounter in 2008 sparked the debate of racism in India.

The groups I’ve mentioned have also served in the Indian army as well like Gorkha Regiment, Assam Rifles, Sikh Regiment, Bihar Regiment, Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, Maratha Light Infantry, Madras Regiments etc. These people have sacrificed their lives and health to fight against the internal and external threats of India. Imagine how they must be feeling when their own countrymen are committing acts of racism. It is a huge disservice to their sacrifices. And when some YouTubers say things like this, it really irks me off. Well, this isn’t the only time YouTubers are guilty of this. Remember the homophobia spread by YouTubers during YouTube vs Tik Tok feud. Yeah, that’s how we’ve stooped so low.

In my article “Examples That Show How Far Outrage Culture And “Bhedchaal” Mentality Have Gone In India“, I’ve talked about PewDiePie making jokes about India and how some of PewDiePie fans were racist against Indians. PewDiePie himself have discouraged it. Despite that, the mob still painted him as racist and they brought the patriotism card against the Indian PewDiePie fans. The picture above is when Carryminati’s video was deleted by YouTube for cyberbullying at the height of YouTube vs Tik Tok and the Carry fans brought the “hypocrisy” on how YouTube didn’t delete PewDiePie’s videos about India but was able to delete an Indian YouTuber’s video. They claim that YouTube is racist yet they don’t care about racism that is happening inside India.

Last month, in a Japanese video Curry Police, ridiculously were stereotyping Indians. This sparked outrage among the masses. I saw big YouTubers and celebrities like talking about it. They say that the video was racist and insulting to Indians. But at the same time, they went out and attacked a YouTuber named Mayo Japan because she was Japanese. It’s funny that outrage culture is selective because we don’t respect our own people for that. As I’ve already talked about racism within India, let me tell you the hypocrisy.

We call Biharis, Bihari. The North East Indians are called momos or Chinese. The South Indians are called Kallu or Mallu. People who are Punjabis (particularly Sikhs) are called Santa-Banta. People from the Muslim community are called terrorists. I’ve seen people on Twitter insulting Hindu Gods. I’ve already mentioned how people from African countries face racism here.

So it’s pretty obvious that we’re committed to racism within India. But when someone outside of India does it, all of sudden it’s a matter of national pride. In reality, we just want to satisfy our own egos. The only reason I’ve brought this up is that when the Paras Official situation happened, I’ve seen few big YouTubers talking about this on their videos but not all. But when the Curry Police video happened, everyone lost their minds.

The video is mediocre, and I don’t find it funny either. Sure it’s offensive but I really don’t care because for me it’s not worth investing my emotions in a mediocre video. I have my own things to worry about.

Now the internet is cancelling the creator of Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, Scott Cawthon all because he donated to Right-wing politicians in America. According to the so-called “journalist articles” say that him supporting the right-wing politicians must have triggered a significant portion of the fanbase i.e. people from the LGBTQIA+ community. The controversy made Cawthon retire from the franchise and he and his family became the victim of online bullying, death threats and doing.

To think that the mob would cancel someone to a point that could leave his/her job because of different political leanings is beyond pathetic. Not only that it undermines the progress made by the people of the LGBTQIA+ community. Understandably, some of the politicians are the anti-LGBTQIA+ community and, understandably, they have a right to be upset and express their dissent but harassing someone over political leanings is not the best option. It does not put them in a good position.

It even has the potential to discourage people to be a part of their community. Just don’t do anything stupid. You don’t have to agree with someone’s politics but don’t just go out and attack that someone over politics. It’s sad to see someone who created one of the most beloved franchises, retires but it also makes me give up my hope on the internet.

You can still like a franchise without agreeing to the creator’s opinion. Hate the artist, not the art. Picasso and John Lennon are examples of that. Albeit they’ve done worse things than donating to controversial politicians. I think we’re living in a generation where people say- ” I support freedom of speech as long as you agree with me”. This “their way or no way” mob mentality has not only harmed the internet but it also gives people to have second thoughts before using the internet. I have to uninstall Twitter because I know how gross it is. Even having an opinion is a death sentence let alone supporting a political leaning.

Anyway, the picture below is the drawing of Bonnie, one of the characters from the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise.

Also read: The UAPA Amendment And The Future Of Civil Liberties In A Constitutional Democracy

In the end, I would say-

The MC Kode situation is just pure cancel culture meets online harassment, with hunts and social media trials. Avoid it as soon as it can. If MC Kode is found and if he’s in good shape then he should be punished under law and not by cesspool garbage that is Twitter.
Please do not bully Paras too. He’s a kid and I don’t want him to do something drastic. What he said was wrong and he deserves to be punished and called out for it. But given the past year’s radiation in the aftermath of Sushant’s case, backlashes can become lava of hate and toxicity. And there’s a difference between one guy calling out someone and multiple guys calling out the same person at the same time. The mob mentality is a disease and it can do more harm than good. So be more careful about what you say.
Respect everyone regardless of race, religion, gender, etc. The Constitution of India sees everyone in this country as a citizen. Read Articles 14 and 15, then you’ll understand more. Hell, read the entire Fundamental Rights because it’ll give you a big picture.
Practice what you preach. Don’t be one-sided or selective over social issues. Understandably, people got offended over the Curry Police video but at the same time, people ignored the racism within India. So if you’re talking about this then stick to it. It’s either all of them or none of them.
Don’t bash someone over politics. Taking a moral high ground or grandstand or whatever while harassing someone and his/her family doesn’t make you a winner. It just proves that you’re pathetic.