How Online Spaces Are Forging Strong Identities



I joined the Quint as in intern in the year 2017, when it was just a budding online platform for quirky ideas and authentic information. It enriched me and taught me the basics of web journalism workings.

I was part of a time when being apolitical was not the corollary of being privileged, rather it was just a term of being politically inactive but aware. Now since the last few years, politics is mainstream and there are rarely any apathetic objectors left, which is essential.

With the coming of the new government, an advancement in greater involvement of people can be seen, as the need arises for an active movement. Yes, now if one doesn't voice one's opinions, they can well be living in an ivory tower.

The proliferation of politics and ideas is largely online now, in the digital world, which is a space of articulation, expression, assertion, discovery, dissent and verbal warfare: not all for the right causes, but thankfully, most of the times.

Youngsters are getting aware and spreading the same through youth oriented news platforms like The Quint, Scoop Whoop Unscripted, The Wire, Sanitary Panels, The Print and several others with the same liberal outlook; in contrast are some relentless ones, with hardlined ideals, which are out of the purview of this article.

It's commendable how the online places have encompassed intersections of gender/race/ethnicities/dispositions/sexual orientations/classes/Physiology and Ideology. Everyone has a right and they voice their opinions for themselves, without appropriation; they do not need to approach a leader, or an organisation- they are free to claim their own identity, voice their own struggles, in a way they feel most comfortable with, without  seeking validation from others.

All the popular news channels on TV, all the important newspapers are online and incorporating technological elements like podcasts and video clips for a faster and efficient consumption of the latest updates.

Connections are stronger, now we can help the those who need are help by signing petitions on jhatkaa.org, change.org or convene our plight to the supreme court in matter of seconds, which was not the case, a decade ago.

But vitriol is stronger as well, with an alarming number of hate posts: The  chaos of irrationality is unbelievable, because the space is free- So Deepika's presence at JNU results in boycott of her film and Michelle Williams' personal choice is thrown around like a hate perpetuating pamphlet by holier-than-thou twitterattis.

There are evidences and then there is fake news, which only an aware and alert mind can differentiate.

But there is still hope, you can find your own community on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest and endless number of platforms. This is the agency, which was not available to the oppressed before- You can sing Faiz's tune and spread a message of peace, You can begin a Read for Revolution campaign, You can share your intimate monologues, You can talk for the environment and help collect donations for Australian bushfires; You can make a change and assert yourself more strongly than ever, despite the regulation policies, because we have a voice and a choice and now several platforms to express our own unique selves.




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