HOW SOCIAL MEDIA RESHAPE LAHORE MOTORWAY RAPE CASE
Social media
is the most powerful instrument nowadays. It can make people viral in days.
Even though sometimes it can be good or sometimes it drags a person to the
deepest hell. It can affect the mental health of a person perilously.
Talking about a day in October 2020, a school teacher,
Ms. Aimun Faisal shared a question about space travel which her student asked
her about and tag astronauts, space agencies and request people to retweet it.
People retweet her question and a Canadian astronaut answer that student’s
question about her teacher. This small interaction on Twitter has become so
popular that even news channels cast this news and every school want to have
such a dedicated teacher. This is the power of social media. Where a small
interaction became popular and it just starts with a simple tweet. But what
happens after a month?
On September 9, nearly at 3 am in the dark. A woman runs
out of fuel in the middle of the Lahore motorway with her two children beside
her. She called but nobody answers. And then that gruesome incident takes place
that we all very well aware of. And she is the same woman, Ms. Aimun Faisal.
After that incident, the news spread like fire and people
are in so much rage that they want justice for her as early as possible. The
hashtag #lahoremotorwayincident goes viral and becomes number one on trending.
In Karachi, people are shouting for her rights and want to get the death
penalty for that man and his acquaintance. This is again the power of media.
People share this news on daily basis and put pressure on the government to
resolve this case and give justice to that woman. People write blogs and the
woman herself fights for her rights.
This is a positive side of social media that how it works
to get justice for a woman who wants support from other people. But what
happens after few months? When this horror becomes humor? It all starts again
with social media. When a woman herself tweets on Twitter. Our government with
all its power finds a culprit after 5 to 6 months. And our media channels have
been praising the police officer who finds the culprit with the help of her
daughter.
Aimun Faisal tweets saying, “No police officer should be forced to risk his
family to perform his duty”
Kabhi khush na hona”. How this whole scenario changes
like this. Those people
who are supporting her start criticizing her?
This started when people just for the sake of likes use
the incident to make memes. People started many false videos and news about the
victim claiming that she is herself characterless just to get some views and
subscribers on their channels. And this is how the serious situation changes
into humor. When Ms. Faisal talks about her own rights people start to react
like she is a feminist which is not a title but it’s a curse in Pakistan to be
called as or act as a feminist. And then all the situation has turned into
humor. This is a power of social media that can change people’s perspective in
a way it wants. And this can make the victim’s life a living hell. “Just a few
weeks later, people were suggesting that Ms. Faisal should go jump into a river
or move to another country”
This is how it works. At the same time, the reaction of
our government is disturbing and rude. Former PM General Parvaiz Musharraf
reacted like, “Pakistani women
get themselves raped so they can get a Canadian visa
We need to
use social media constructively so that it will not make someone depressed. And
these trend-making and viral-making departments of social media are at their
peak these days. We can make someone popular in no time can then themselves
make fun of that person after few days. Because we have a lack of understanding
and we all are so much dependent on media that it is doing work for us that how
we should understand a situation, how we should act, and even what should we
think. We need to critically analyze the situation before sharing it.
By: Esha Shamim (01)
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