I first made a meme in my third year of degree college. I took the photo of Batman villain Bane, placed a joke about a professor with particularly bad body odour, and privately circulated it amongst friends and classmates. I felt a strange sense of achievement while those around me saw it as a juvenile waste of time. I agreed with their assessment and yet, two years later, I was drawing pay cheques for a job where I frequently made memes.
Memes are dumb, vapid creations meant for momentary consumption in an age of ever-shortening attention spans.
I am aware this argument can appear hollow and snooty in an age where pages making these ‘dumb things’ have made business ventures, startups, publications, and careers out of them. But every social media admin is aware of how inconsequential their intrinsic value is. I can wager that All India Bakchod’s (AIB’s) social media manager held the same belief when he/she posted a meme on 12 July.
You’ll Always Find At Least One Offended Person
I didn’t understand the futile purpose of memes until I was made the admin of a comedy group’s social media pages. I would focus simply on sharing the jokes and content of comedians who were funnier than I could ever hope to be.
The envy of seeing other people’s funny posts, which made light of the grave reality we faced, tempted me to try and make these memes on my own. I went from being cognisant of their worthlessness to refreshing the page constantly to check the likes and comments on our creations. The reactions would range from positive to vile accusations, abuses, and violent threats.
The subjects of the posts could be anything – a Prime Minister’s foreign trips to Bollywood or personal jokes about relatives – you name it! But you would always find at least one offended person. A survey of the comments was a stressful exercise which would invoke mental screams of ‘No one said that’, ‘You didn’t get it’, and ‘How unemployed are you to comment on these things?’. And then there was always the concern of being flooded with threats of police complaints.
My bosses would reassure me that nothing would happen – and to ‘let it be’ in most cases. The overwhelming majority of the comments on Facebook and Twitter seemed to be from either anonymous profiles with fake names or innocuous teenagers who made empty threats.
Numbness and a disciplined indifference to these reactions made me ignore the comments, but I still didn’t feel safe. My fear lingered even after Section 66A being struck down on 24 March 2015.
Our relative obscurity and a judicious use of ‘delete’ and ‘ban/block’ are the only reasons I can cite for the absence of a targeted harassment of my former employer and me. But AIB has never been that lucky.
In the Spotlight
The ‘roast’ controversy was a particularly worrisome moment as the traditionally repressive establishment had finally taken notice of the still young alternative entertainment avenue. The subsequent debates and courts cases had drastic implications not just for AIB but the entire stand-up and alternative comedy scene in the country.
AIB would soon learn that it’s under the watchful eye of the media and political establishments with the Snapchat-Sachin controversy. The latest iteration of this is in the form of a bitterly political war of words over a deleted meme.
The complaint is firstly, of the group’s cowardice in not mocking the Modi government fearlessly with the relative ease they have had in mocking the Congress. Secondly, it’s the explicit mention of a profit motive. Memes – a tool used by thousands of pages (including AIB) for gaining likes and followers – was now being used as a basis to talk about serious issues such as the Congress’ record on free speech. The supporters of AIB and the Congress will justify their positions and, as happens ever so often in online squabbles, victory will be claimed by both, though I think the digitally laggard Congress needs to get the most out of it.
Ultimately, AIB Is a Comedy Group, Not the Opposition
AIB’s first-mover strategy saw them transforming their image from the niche purveyors of alternative comedy to producers of a television show and an upcoming online web-series with one of the country’s best actors. And now even the harmless act of deleting a meme doesn’t go unnoticed – it is seen as an act of submission before an autocratic regime.
The members of the group are constantly reminded about their apology to the Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay after the ‘roast’ but few seem to empathise with the situation they faced then.
Endless political debates, protests, condemnations, and several cases filed against you for making jokes don’t come with a handy guide on correct responses.
I do wish AIB had gone a purely anti-establishment route after their rise to astounding fame and success as they fought their cases for free speech in India, instead of the measured humour route. A number of their videos have left me disappointed. I don’t follow their social media channels regularly – sometimes I find them to be meme factories which overindulge their audiences in a desperate bid to be constantly relevant and engaging. Yet, I am a loyal fan and subscriber of their work.
The artists who entertain us came to light for their unique voice, and I still find that voice somewhere in their work. If entertainers start operating fanatically on audience feedback and wishes, the end-result will be a fall in quality followed by popularity. I don’t think I am entitled to dictate how AIB should operate – be it in their business model, public positions, and least of all, humour. I trust them to provide their unique brand of comedy while I also go and explore many other comedians and groups for my varied comedic needs.
But it must be noted that memes were never meant to be profound. They are worth only seconds of human attention, a few minutes of conversation, and some laughter. Humour and free speech are far more significant endeavours which need to be protected, and it may be true that AIB is fighting this battle in a manner few would approve of – but they have done more to normalise an irreverent culture of humour than anything a Twitter feud will accomplish.
Beyond the meme that kicked up a storm, there’s an actual devastating flood in Assam and Manipur (which you can donate to). A news report claims that the CBFC could be taken over by the Central Government as per a new bill (which you should be wary of). The India-China standoff at Sikkim still has no resolution in sight. Questions remain on the Amarnath Yatra attack. But you’ve just read a piece on memes. I think this is one joke we can all laugh at and then abashedly mull over. But as I said before, there will always be one comment requesting for it to be deleted.
(Devang Pathak is a writer who even at 50 will insist "I am not quite there yet". He frequently resigns from reality by traversing into films, TV shows, and sometimes books. He has recently started 'Was That Funny?' – a publication which covers Indian stand-up comedy. You can follow him on Twitter @DevangPat)
(This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same. )