Actual Crimes Are Okay, but a Nasty Joke Won't Be Tolerated
(Photo credits: https://youtu.be/KlIi5nSvKVo?si=3zUavhLsw9k-hQ2H)
- by Aryan
I couldn’t be more tired of the societal trend cycle — the way it first hypes up an incident, keeps it as a hot topic until people have squeezed every last bit of juice out of it, and then drops it entirely once a new controversy pops up.
What’s even more frustrating is that while there are serious issues within society that genuinely need attention and action, people seem far more invested in controversies of less importance. And the way they demand strict action over these non-issues — as if their very right to life is being threatened — is not just funny, but absolutely disgusting.
This blog clearly comes in the context of the recent Ranveer Allahbadia controversy, which has been a hot topic for the past few days. As with every other controversy, people have been offering mixed reactions and opinions on the matter.
For those who aren’t aware of the situation, Ranveer Allahbadia — a lifestyle influencer and podcaster — asked an incredibly inappropriate question on the YouTube show India’s Got Latent. The question was: “Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life or join in once and stop it forever?”
As a result of this question, not only did Ranveer land in legal trouble, but so did Samay Raina, the host of India’s Got Latent. Samay even had to delete all the episodes of the show from his YouTube channel.
Now that you know what the controversy is about, I’d like to ask a simple question: was Ranveer Allahbadia’s statement worth a criminal act? I use the term ‘criminal act’ because that’s exactly how people are treating it. Whether it’s the media, content creators, or the flood of comments on social media — everyone seems to have been washing their hands in this river of hate and stupidity.
Take a look at some of the comments under the apology video Ranveer posted on his Instagram right after the controversy: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DF5CTx_KXS8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The hypocrisy to be noted here is that people are criticizing him for his nasty comments about parents while using curse words that involve parents themselves — the kind of comments that are disgusting even to read. It’s incredibly easy for some low-life losers to say anything to anyone from behind their screens.
But that’s not even the worst of it. The situation escalated to the point where Ranveer started receiving death threats, and people began threatening to harm his family. Some individuals even entered his mother’s clinic posing as patients. You can check this out in another post Ranveer made, for which the link is: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGGNaTHKlOH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
But I could see a shift in the comments section under this particular post. There were lots of supportive comments, with people mentioning that mistakes do happen and that what he had done was NOT A CRIME. One such comment stood out to me:
I mean, yes, I do agree that influencers sometimes take their fame and platform for granted, making statements or doing actions that are not appropriate for society. And what Ranveer said, even though intended as a joke, was stupid and totally inappropriate. Given that Indian culture has certain values and morals, there’s a certain threshold for making jokes that must be respected. Ranveer’s audience includes people from all age groups, and statements like these from such an influential person are truly disgusting.
But is it a crime? According to me, NO! And not just me — even the lawyer defending Ranveer’s case strongly stands by the fact that, despite Ranveer’s statement being inappropriate, should it really be treated as a crime? Those who read newspapers or follow traditional news must already know the court’s stance on this.
In fact, while heinous crimes are happening in society, people choose to raise their voices against such trivial controversies. And they do so in a manner that reveals just how uncivilized some members of our society really are. My question is: who are these people? Are they innocent themselves? Judging by the way they are criticizing Ranveer, it certainly doesn’t seem so.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned earlier, this is a cycle where an incident comes into the spotlight, gets hyped up for a few days or weeks, and then people simply move on. And most of the time, this hype is neither logical nor necessary.
Though we might not be able to stop this cycle, what we need to understand is the importance of not blindly following the crowd. We must develop our own sense of judgment about what’s right and what’s not. There’s a way to criticize something wrong and harmful to society — and at the same time, there’s a certain limit to that criticism.
It’s easy for anyone to say or spread anything on social media from behind their screens, but the impact is huge. Whether it’s influencers or the common people commenting on them, everyone needs to be cautious before they hit that 'post' button.
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