That Beer-Biceps’ Joke Did Not Warrant This Rage; What And Why Are We Agitated Then?
There is uproar on social media right now over the Beer biceps joke at Samay Raina’s popular show India’s Got Latent. Ranveer asked the guy on stage “If he had to choose between watching his parents have coitus the rest of his life or to join one time and end it, which one would he choose?”. The episode of the show is now pulled down by youtube after notice from the I&B ministry of the Indian government.
One, he has said far more objectionable things on his podcast and elsewhere that did not tip the scale for social media patrons to object. I’ll revisit this point. Two, why do you think is his latest joke objectionable? And yes, I’ll still call it a joke because he meant and thought it was a joke. We can then classify it as a bad joke, obscene joke etc but it is a joke nonetheless. But why was this objectionable? The premise or foundational basis of the joke is a belief that children don’t like the idea of their parents having sex. The joke is built upon this belief. But why do children don’t like their parents indulging in sex? I remember back in school, must be in class eight when you’re introduced to reproduction. During a normal interaction with a close friend in class, I mentioned how we were all products of our parents having sex. This line might seem very innocent and obvious now but back then this was quite provoking. We had all grown up with the belief that children were the product of marriage — childbirth just happened as per god’s plan or wants. Humans had no skin in this game. But our Science teacher had just told us how we were living a lie. And our parents were aware of this. My friend took offence at the implied suggestion that his parents had sex. Sex was bad, his parents were good and the idea that his good parents would indulge in awful acts of sex was beyond his imagination. Frankly, it was not a comforting thought to me either but I had made my truce by then to the existence of things I had no authority over. I just had to acclimate to their reality if I wanted to live as well, in peace.
So if you are okay with the idea that your parents also have desires and they might occasionally copulate, it’s then just a joke. And the joke Ranveer cracked isn’t even his original. This or versions of this joke have been around on the internet and in some standup circles for a long time now. There’s a clip floating on the Internet with two people sitting across a table and the female asking this question to the male sitting across her. So Ranveer did think it was funny and so did the audience that laughed over it. But more on that later.
Coming back to the outrage part.
Lately what has happened is people have dumped their thinking faculties. This is of course the result of the constant serving of content via our phones. So much so that we are never left by ourselves where we could come up with a line of thought that’s ours. Call it brain rot or paralysis of thinking, this is our reality. And in this reality, we heed like a herd. If someone we follow says something is offensive then we start assembling our thoughts and comments around this supposition. If not someone we follow then it is what is being done by the majority in our group. Who’s funny, what’s fashionable, including what food tastes good and what food should be avoided is decided by people we follow around on the Internet. If enough people go somewhere and make videos, I have to go there too. By now I have visited so many cafes and joints that serve abominable food albeit with perfectly placed coriander leaf on top and an unnecessary line of chocolate drawn at one end of the plate. There’s no hiding from it. Your friends want to go and you do.
If you have seen the clip from Samay’s show then you would have noticed how people originally laughed at Ranveer’s joke. Meaning? There’s an audience out there that thinks he was funny there. It was later on, that someone influential on the Internet thought this was not cool, and then that became the verdict about his joke. What I’m trying to say is, that Ranveer has said far worse in past which has all been digested. And frankly, in a week or two from now, even this will be digested. If anything, this is publicity for him and his show. As he has said in past, he has no ideology or morals, he would do whatever gets eyeballs. And this one abundantly does.
Mr Modi awarded Ranveer Alhabadia the ‘Disruptor of the Year Award’ at a luxurious gala event. That’s not all, under Modi’s influencer program, several of his ministers went on his podcast to be interviewed by him. If anything Ranveer should have been booked by authorities long ago for spreading lies, misinformation and superstition. Forget about the alpha-male kind of chauvinism and dangerously veiled subtle bigotry and rape jokes he has cracked in past or the people he platformed and amplified their filth.
All said it is awful to have an FIR filed against someone for a joke. Especially in a country where we have a record of protecting rapist babas and politicians despite rape victims burning themselves in police stations or victims sitting on protests in the national capital. What are we trying to convey? Raping and molesting is fine but a bad joke is where we draw the line?
