(I)
Dear Editor,
This refers to your editorial, “Horrific act of violence” (March 16, 2019). New Zealand Prime Minister JacindaArdern was a picture of humanity when she hugged members of the Muslim community at a Christchurch refugee centre. Just after the mosque massacre, what she had said, would definitely energize our journey for a better tomorrow. She said, “We were chosen for (the attacks)… because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values, refuge for those who need it. You (the attacker) have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you.”
Fanatics and terrorists cannot stop the journey of humanity so long as the people like her are there among us. But one thing that we need to focus is on social media. The horrific killing at two mosques in Christchurch was broadcast live on the Internet. The shooter also uploaded his manifesto allegedly equating the shooting with the typical trolling tactics of the Internet’s most far-Right instigators. Social media channels later reportedly struggled to remove copies of the stream.
It is a shame that we have a huge trolling factory in our country. It first targets a victim. Then it starts trolling on social media channels to hurl unprintable filthy language on that person against whatever she/ he posts. Interestingly, the New Zealand massacre has a similarity with what happened to Afrajul Khan, a poor labourer from West Bengal.
He was hacked to death and burnt in Rajasthan by a lone assassin who made inflammatory comments and footage of the murder was uploaded on social media. The killer allegedly got influenced by hate speeches and messages on social media. Afrajul murder was also a chain of events that had originated in hate speeches in the social media and then it snowballed to a street murder and then it went back to social media for further snowballing.
The terror attack in New Zealand again highlighted the urgent need to make the global tech companies nip violent content in the bud and quickly block such addresses of hatred.
Sincerely,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
(II)
Dear Editor,
This refers to your editorial “Horrific act of violence” (March 16). Terrorism is strongly condemned in all its forms and manifestations and stressed that there can be no justification whatsoever for any acts of terrorism. Terrorism of course is a major problem, which is agitating every one of us. Terrorism is greatest challenge for world society as it is not only causing human suffering but also impeding peace & development.The damage done by the terrorists should serve as an eye-opener to tackle the menace effectively. It has not been able to draw up an effective national security policy and many of the suggestions made after each terror strike has not been implemented. Intelligence agencies must be restructured and properly equipped, and police vigilance intensified to ensure efficient exchange of information as well as better monitoring of the terrorists’ movements. The whole world must be united to fight against this menace against humanity. Time has come that all public gathering places all over the world must have high security frisking and banning entry of fire arms and ammunition with special attention to in-house staff. Global powers should come under one umbrella united to thwart the terrorist network and remove their presence once for all from the face of this planet. Let us spread love, ignore terrorism.
Sincerely,
Vinod C. Dixit,
Ahmedabad