Recently, toxic fan culture once again returned to us in a horrifying form. The controversy over the handshake between Travis Head and Virat Kohli in the IPL reached Head’s wife and family. Once again we saw limits being broken. But this was not the first time. Every time something like this happens, we see these trolls tarnishing fan sentiment and doing some disgusting acts. Whereas no one has the right to target anyone’s family. This is an issue regarding which a zero-tolerance attitude is necessary. I have been through this myself and I know how it feels to be called derogatory names by your mother, wife or child. This is the point where social media turns into a mess, and something must be done immediately to control it. This army of toxic fans present on Twitter or other social media should also understand that by showing blind loyalty towards an individual, they are only harming the larger cause. By making derogatory comments on Travis Head’s wife, he would not have been proving his loyalty to Virat Kohli. In fact, the truth is that individual-centric fan-culture is becoming more cruel and toxic day by day. Personality worship has been one of the biggest problems in Indian sports. Sometimes it seems as if fans are satisfied with the fact that their favorite player has scored runs, even if the team has lost. On the same lines, one starts thinking that how did anyone dare to dispute with our favorite player? So his family should also be dragged into this. The era of Tendulkar and Dravid was before Kohli and Rohit. And before that there was the era of Gavaskar and Kapil. But the kind of toxic fan-war seen between Virat and Rohit’s supporters has never been seen before. And Indian cricket is suffering the biggest loss in this. After the above incident, fake accounts claiming to support Travis Head also surfaced, which were used to humiliate Kohli and his family. This is equally condemnable, and there is no doubt that a section of Indian ‘fans’ are behind it. For him, this is just another opportunity to vent his personal grudge and anti-Kohli sentiment. This has resulted in different fan groups fighting among themselves and blaming each other for this. Now the time has come to take action against these trolls. This should be stopped forever. Spreading hatred is becoming the identity of the new India, which is not the concept of India for which we stand. This is not what we believe in, and as a society we will not accept it. The controversy is only about a handshake during a match, and in any game there is always a winner and a loser. It has nothing to do with anyone’s family, wife or daughter. And anyone who violates this decorum is either delusional or not worthy of a civilized society. Secondly, it is an extremely dangerous trend that people have now started feeling that they have the right to say and get away with anything. With time, social media has become a field of uncontrolled abuse. On one level it is obscene and disgusting, and on another level it is extremely worrying. It exposes the deep restlessness and anger that exists within people. We have allowed this situation to persist for too long, and the social media discourse is a reflection of the condition we have gotten ourselves into. As real fans you have to stand up against this and stop it. It is vital that fans understand the seriousness of this situation and end this display of hatred. Many people would say that this is a by-product of social media taking over our lives, but the truth is that there has rarely been any organized resistance against it. Isolated statements will not solve this problem. Collective action is necessary for this, only then these trolls will stop. Social media platforms also need to understand what is acceptable and what is not. This is a very dangerous trend that people have started feeling that they have the right to say and get away with anything. With time, social media has become a field of uncontrolled abuse. This is worrisome. (These are the author’s own views)
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Boria Majumdar’s column: Why have we accepted hatred on the internet?
