REDKP
21-Nov-2021
Last week around the same time, two hashtags (though I don't remember the names clearly) were trending on Twitter namely # justice for the girl (Name and identity of victims of sexual assault, including those who have died, cannot be disclosed "even in a remote manner") and then # ban an adult youtube channel (asked so for using cuss words in their videos, though I don't explore such channels).
In this article, I shall only discuss a few terms and describe them with an example.
Profanity and Abuse: - What exactly do they mean?
Profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rude etc. whereas verbal abuses are insults made using (esp. spoken) language. A point to be noted is that verbal abuse may not necessarily mean the usage of foul language to hurt a person; it’s quite easy to abuse a person even without speaking.
The concept of the roast was never deeply explored in India, but an American show called comedy central roast which airs one or two roasts every year has seen many celebrities like the former American president Donald trump appearing in this show. The concept is that the guests appearing on this show will be roasted by a panel of roasters. The same format was most notably adapted around 2015 as AIB knockout 2015 with notable celebrities appearing in it. Only for a few years, we see a club of creators creating roasts in the Indian media community; the most common concept being the roast of movies.
In such a category of roasts, we generally find that the backward aspects of a particular movie are grilled during which a few cuss words are uttered out for evoking laughter or entertainment purposes. Also, content disclaimers are shown before the start of a video to avoid confusion. But if in such roasts an actor or technician who worked in the movie is deliberately targeted based on his/her personal life then it is abuse that could put the creator in trouble waters. So, choice of words and target is paramount.
There is a general trend that a person’s nature is being judged as he/she uses foul language; which is a ridiculous concept. To be fair any word that is against social justice is cuss and social harmony can be disturbed even without uttering a cuss word but by any wrong reference.
Now if an assaultee in his/her suicidal note mentions a cuss word towards her assaulter, then is it right to call the assaultee worst behaved or something? Yes, few boomers do exist who call the assaultee wrong or something despite no fault. Also, a person using cuss words should not be judged for that habit instead we need to understand what he/she supports (that is respectful and accepting social justice) and in what context the person utters such words.
If we start getting offended for every cuss word uttered then most of us should end up being penalized under section 294 of the IPC.
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