The word ‘comment’ is something I first heard in my childhood. When girls used to walk by, it was common for men, who were unrefined and lacked proper education to sit by the wayside or on a roadside platform and speak inappropriate words. These men, who were generally uneducated villagers, used to comment in such a manner. Back then, the way the word ‘comment’ was used referred to something of that nature. I recall how girls would walk past, often turning their faces away in disgust, sometimes even calling them names, and quickly running away. That’s how ‘comments’ were understood to have a negative impact on those who heard them.
Maybe because we are in an era of generational change, those old kinds of ‘comments’ have dwindled. However, they haven’t disappeared entirely. In the modern era, they have taken new forms. A vast space for them is social media. If you don’t comment below a post or picture, it’s as if you’ve committed some sort of crime or missed an opportunity. This shift shows how we, as a society, have become more open to commenting. Posts left without comments are treated as though they are forgotten or unnoticed, like lifeless bodies that no one bothers to take notice of. People even insist on commenting on videos uploaded on YouTube and similar platforms. There were moments when it seemed like a comment had so much value attached to it.
Now, there are other kinds of comments too. These are responses to events or individuals, and they often appear on social media. Some of these comments have shocked me. Many of them push the boundaries of decency. Some express strong disagreements in a language that is even more intense and detailed. How is it that some people can openly express opinions they would hesitate to say privately?
When I looked deeper into the individuals behind these comments, I realized that many of them come from fake profiles. Once I understood that, my thoughts took another turn. It doesn’t matter if the profile picture shows a flower, a fruit, or an animal-there is still a human behind it. Similar to how we tick a box to verify we’re not a robot, it’s easy to create any profile name and claim to be someone born in some house, in some place. But how is it that this person thinks this way? How can they respond to others in the most hurtful manner?
Because there is no face to these comments, they have turned into outlets for various internal frustrations. These comments reflect everything from personal hatred to extreme aggression. When some comments are made with good intentions, they nurture and comfort individuals, but the venomous comments are like foul, rotten air that pollutes our surroundings. The stench of the speaker’s internal negativity becomes something that others have to bear as well.
This creates a situation where anyone can say anything about anyone. Will this situation ever change? Or is it something that needs to change?
