The racist slur directed against former Arunachal Pradesh MP and sitting Congress legislator Mr Ninong Ering by Punjab-based  YouTuber Paras Singh has not only touched a raw nerve but has once again brought to the fore the ‘ignorance’ of certain section of our countrymen about India’s unique and vibrant communities and culture.  

 

The YouTuber who goes by the name ‘Paras Official’ on his YouTube channel has called ‘Ering as a non-Indian and ‘Chinese looking’ and Arunachal Pradesh, a part of China’ in one of his videos. Paras made the comments while reacting to a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Ering recently, wherein the latter had asked the PM to ban the re-launch of PUBG Mobile India’s news avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India. 

A closer look at the video shows an immature, over-confident and seemingly ignorant, Singh making the distasteful comments about the former Parliamentarian, the state and its culture. As expected netizens didn’t take the comments kindly and by evening multiple FIRs were registered including one by Mr Ering himself.  The YouTuber in question promptly posted an apology video but the damage was already done.

 

Racism, sadly is omnipresent. It is a mindset which afflicts countless across the globe.  Despite an apology being tendered, the moot point here is the use or rather misuse of social media platform and position. Social media has given power to all to speak their mind but on the flipside it has also become prone to misuse and misinformation. In this particular case, Paras Singh is an “influencer” with over 4.5lakh followers and someone with such a huge following cannot be callous with what he speaks on his channel.  Influencers are huge personalities in their own right with loyal following of audiences. This direct line of communication empowers influencers to generate social conversations, drive engagement, and ultimately, set trends amongst a receptive and socially savvy audience.

The outcome of this particular case will unravel in the days to come but let this be a learning lesson to all social media users that with power comes responsibility and responsible we must be!

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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