All those things you read on whatsapp
Suddenly it has become mandatory to have a Whatsapp account, just as it is mandatory to have a Facebook account. Not to forget Twitter. It is just bad luck for those who created stuff like Orkut or Viber or a host of other applications all of which apparently have fallen by the wayside. I have no qualms about that, for survival of the fittest app and all that... but, it is what keeps appearing on my Whatsapp account that takes my goat. Let me explain.
The other day, I got a forward from a well-meaning friend in the form a video. The theme was (supposedly) what goes around comes around - or some such drift. The hero in the video purchases some kind of hand-made handicraft from a street urchin at a road intersection, after the same was rejected by others travelling in cars and general passerby. The urchin is grateful to the vendor, and the hero is as smug as a cat that has just slurped the milk. Presto- what do we see next? The hero gets a call immediately on his cellphone, and an employer is offering him a job in a company. Tacky? Yes. More than that, classical case of instant gratification. More importantly, the message is loud and unambiguous; 'Do good for quid pro quo' or again, 'If you do good you will receive rewards'.
Religious evangelism is a perennial favorite. Friends send you things about rotting in eternal fire with horned and two-hoofed friends for company if you haven't done this, this and that. You politely ask them to stop sending such forwards and they will point-blank ask you: " Oh, Don't want to be saved? Non-believer? Thought about your soul?" You immediately see their point of view and beg for mercy.
Health capsules is a favorite with all well-meaning friends who are hell-bent on forwarding. I am recovering from a post which said that coconut oil is really, really good for you, when all these years I was under the impression that it is harmful. It will cure you from Alzheimer, cancer, hair fall, rheumatism and every other ailment under the sun. Imagine, what will happen to me and my health now, because all these years I actually avoided coconut oil?
There was another one which suggested that sunflower seed oil has 70 % castor oil. (Yes, you read it correct- castor oil!) So I should have died years ago, because I am guilty of consuming that brand of oil.
Presto- your ice cream is not that innocent ice cream, but disgraceful vegetable oil and slurry smashed and sweetened. Drinking cow's milk? Goodness, how are you still alive to tell the tale? Cow's milk is a cocktail of cancerous chemicals.
My eternal wonder is: who has the time to put up such elaborate and technically sound videos and posts? Do they get paid for it? Is there an hidden (or not so hidden) agenda?
The end result after reading all these forwards, is a cocktail of confusion, half-baked knowledge, trauma, hysteria and pangs of anxiety for ordinary mortals like me!
The other day, I got a forward from a well-meaning friend in the form a video. The theme was (supposedly) what goes around comes around - or some such drift. The hero in the video purchases some kind of hand-made handicraft from a street urchin at a road intersection, after the same was rejected by others travelling in cars and general passerby. The urchin is grateful to the vendor, and the hero is as smug as a cat that has just slurped the milk. Presto- what do we see next? The hero gets a call immediately on his cellphone, and an employer is offering him a job in a company. Tacky? Yes. More than that, classical case of instant gratification. More importantly, the message is loud and unambiguous; 'Do good for quid pro quo' or again, 'If you do good you will receive rewards'.
Religious evangelism is a perennial favorite. Friends send you things about rotting in eternal fire with horned and two-hoofed friends for company if you haven't done this, this and that. You politely ask them to stop sending such forwards and they will point-blank ask you: " Oh, Don't want to be saved? Non-believer? Thought about your soul?" You immediately see their point of view and beg for mercy.
Health capsules is a favorite with all well-meaning friends who are hell-bent on forwarding. I am recovering from a post which said that coconut oil is really, really good for you, when all these years I was under the impression that it is harmful. It will cure you from Alzheimer, cancer, hair fall, rheumatism and every other ailment under the sun. Imagine, what will happen to me and my health now, because all these years I actually avoided coconut oil?
There was another one which suggested that sunflower seed oil has 70 % castor oil. (Yes, you read it correct- castor oil!) So I should have died years ago, because I am guilty of consuming that brand of oil.
Presto- your ice cream is not that innocent ice cream, but disgraceful vegetable oil and slurry smashed and sweetened. Drinking cow's milk? Goodness, how are you still alive to tell the tale? Cow's milk is a cocktail of cancerous chemicals.
My eternal wonder is: who has the time to put up such elaborate and technically sound videos and posts? Do they get paid for it? Is there an hidden (or not so hidden) agenda?
The end result after reading all these forwards, is a cocktail of confusion, half-baked knowledge, trauma, hysteria and pangs of anxiety for ordinary mortals like me!
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