Sad some jokes on Rahul Gandhi's hacked Twitter account were homophobic
Much to the entertainment of everyone on the Indian interwebs, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account got hacked. Yes. It was funny for a couple of seconds. After all, Rahul Gandhi is India’s Clown Prince. The man is known to say absurd things and has been, for years, considered nothing more than a brat from an influential family.
But the tweets from his hacked account lost their charm as quickly as mutton biriyani once you bite a piece of elaichi. Between the Congress people and supporters throwing blame at BJP and friends, and the BJP and right-wing Twitter jumping to the conclusion that this was a drunk/stoned Rahul Gandhi tweeting all of this, the amount of casual homophobia in the tweets pointed towards the fact that this is, most likely, a teenager who was out there to have a laugh.
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| Photo: Indiatoday.in |
Whoever was the hacker, they sent a series of crass, homophobic and abusive tweets for all of Rahul Gandhi’s his 1.2 million followers to see. The hacker(s) also changed his account name to Retarded Gandhi. As the Congress sat helplessly, trying to figure out what was happening; the tweets on Gandhi’s account were repeatedly deleted and updated with new ones.
“I am a memeworthy faggot” and “I am a gay motherfu**ing faggot”.
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| Photo: Screengrab |
Two tweets that should be enough to illustrate the mindset of the hacker and those laughing at this like it’s the joke of the century. Faggot is a colloquial American cuss word used to describe homosexuals. It is a derogatory term that has a history of oppression written all over it.
Homophobia, of course, is nothing new in India. A country that has criminalised homosexuality in the name of an archaic law that calls it unnatural sex is not a place where one can expect maturity in this subject matter. Additionally, India’s most famous yoga guru, Baba Ramdev believes that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured by practising kapalbharati (a yoga technique). So, yeah, we don’t give much room for dialogue on pansexual acceptance.
The hacker, whoever it was, was looking to poke fun at Rahul Gandhi and get a few laughs at his expense. While that in itself is not ethically sound, what is worse is that they chose to insult Rahul Gandhi by alleging that he is gay.
Like him or hate him, throwing homophobic slur at a person and his family hiding behind a veil of anonymity is never funny. #RahulGandhi
— Bodhisattva Sen Roy (@insenroy) November 30, 2016
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| Photo: Screengrab |
The only relevant insight from the RG account hacking is that the fellow who did it is a raging homophobe
— Krish Ashok (@krishashok) November 30, 2016
Rahul Gandhi's account surely hacked by a 16 y/o kid who thinks calling someone "gay" is great insult.
— Rohit Yoda (@rohitshahmi07) November 30, 2016
So they hacked #RahulGandhi's account and all they could post were homophobic insults? His hackers were dumber than he is.
— Stuart (@Stuart_pereira) November 30, 2016
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| Photo: Screengrab |
As an aside: Notice how homophobic slurs are used, even by a common hacker, to abuse someone? Being gay is akin to being a lowlife in India.
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) November 30, 2016
So what we learnt from the Rahul Gandhi hack is that the hacker is homophobic.
— A (@FarziVakeel_) November 30, 2016
Rahul Gandhi's official twitter account @OfficeOfRG seems to be hacked by some homophobic Nationalistic fellows.... pic.twitter.com/W4hFOdPUzf
— sudheesh sudhakaran (@Sudheesh_S_) November 30, 2016
could have done without the homophobia though
— confused yash. (@waderingmind) November 30, 2016
So we now know that the guy(s) hacking Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account is/are:a. Homophobicb. Racist
— Dhruva Jaishankar (@d_jaishankar) November 30, 2016
Whoever has hacked #RahulGandhi account has to be a orthodox bigot homophobe who thinks calling someone a homosexual is a joke n abuse.
— Amin Ali (@aminali83) November 30, 2016
It is shameful that while a huge chunk of the world has progressed enough to not just understand, but respect homosexuality, in India “tu gay hai” is still an insult. And it doesn’t end there. Anything that exists outside the heterosexual gender binary is "weird" and should be used as an insult. That is, sadly, the general belief.
And one may choose to argue, that the word faggot no long refers to homosexuals. You can go so far as the quote the internationally acclaimed comedian Louis CK and say that the word faggot refers to just someone who is an idiot, and using the word doesn’t make one a homophobe.
But when you make that argument, just for one second, consider this: If you are calling someone a faggot or gay, you are still using the term in a condescending, demeaning and often insulting manner.
In one episode of his TV show Louie, CK’s friend explains to him the origin of the word faggot.
“Well, the word ‘faggot’ really means a bundle of sticks used for kindling in a fire. Now, in the Middle Ages, when they used to burn people they thought were witches? They used to burn homosexuals, too. And, they used to burn the witches at a stake, but they thought the homosexuals were too low and disgusting to be given a stake to be burnt on, so they used to just throw them in with the kindling, with the other faggots. So that’s how you get ‘flaming faggot.’”
Homophobia is not just being afraid of gay people or hating gay people. Homophobia is also being part of an environment, a society that does not make any efforts to make the gay community feel at home. Even if you are not a homophobe and use the words gay or faggot as a joke or an insult, you are part of a system that makes it more difficult every day, for homosexuals to live freely.
But of course, it’s Rahul Gandhi’s account. So why not have a big laugh?