Viral violence at its worst

No country is without crime, injustice and corruption. To fight these problems, any country across the border establishes law and order system and nurtures ethics in young minds. But, when violence spreads like a maniac, the word 'violence' seems very poor choice to show the real horror. There are reasons to feel very alarmed in consequence. Just think of a boy who was tied to a pole. Consequently, the boy was being beaten notoriously. The boy was screaming for help, crying for a mere glass of water and begging mercy for his own life! The offenders who were beating ridiculed him as if he were a cricket ball. One of them filmed this inhumanly terrifying scene and shared on Facebook as if this was the funniest thing ever in his life! Sheikh Md Samiul Alam Rajon, the 13-year-old boy had no choice but to die almost a year ago from excruciating torture.  The boy was beaten for the accusation of "stealing"(as thetorturers claimed). The 28-minute clip of Rajon's torture went viral where people in social networks busted like a firestorm.The offenders were detained, but violence did not take rest. Video of a man beating his girlfriend, a teenager ‘Xunayed’ beating his classmate for silly issue among friends, family members heartlessly beating an aged woman - all went viral and comments expressing protest, grief and anger flooded the social media. Few occurrences just faded away from the feed and only few faced justice. The frequent reappearing of violent films on social media feed is alarming and provokes the question- is our country losing its way?

The people doing these are sick and this does not require affirmation by a psychologist. Their brutal outrage is nothing but a showoff of the souls, heavy with depression.These people are nervous and confused as they have been struggling for a lifetime, for attention from the people around them. To end all, they channel their lunacy to the vulnerable person and film their remorseless act to create just a buzz around them on media. They believe their act to be heroic and find great pleasure in spreading their ‘heroism’. The offenders look forward to get likes and shares on social networks not thinking much about to what extent they have been heartless. Assuredly, this is an easier way for them to be noticed and attended by thousands of people, if not billions on social media. 

Self-esteem is thought to be reflected by possession of power, and popularity. Power is exercised irrationally on the innocent and the weak, and the desire for fame then encourages spreading of the abuse via film or other means. Incorrect understanding of esteem is directing young minds to a wrong path. The teachings of academic texts that talk about morals has stopped reaching young minds and the expanding moral vacuum is enough to bankrupt humanity. Parenting has more roles to play. From a very early age, the correct meaning of self-esteem, happiness and the morals needs to be communicated with children and repeated continuously because nature of the human mind is forgetful. Gradually this will be embedded in the soul and then instead of seeking violence the person shall seek peace. The practice needs to start from home and should later be expected from academia. 

Since social media or mass media has no viewer's discretion, such spreading of violent acts needs to be barred by authorities as this may indirectly encourage young minds to repeat the brutality. Misunderstandings, moral vacuum and unrest in the young minds need to be addressed immediately to hold humanity from being extinct. 

The writer is a final year student of Department of Finance at University of Dhaka. sadiduddin@gmail.com