Friday, February 12, 2010

Fools and Bigger Fools

Hoping to get some "entertainment" from the idiot box on a Friday evening, I was channel browsing , and CNN-IBN and the other English news channels did not disappoint. The "lead story" on CNN - IBN was how Mumbaikars stood up to Shiv Sena threat and how "most multiplexes" in Mumbai ran a "full house" of "My Name is Khan"

I have in some of my previous posts written about Shiv Sena ( Refer the first half of the title for this post), but today the more entertaining ones were the sir and ma'm of the show.. I mean the hosts of India @ 9 or whatever..

After the clippings of the "packed houses" ( means may be 20-30 people in front of a theatre ) and interviews with some can't-figure-out-if-its-a-he-or-she folks saying "we won't let ourselves to be bullied" , there was finally the interview with the ShivSena spokesperson, and here is how it went more or less ( SS for Shivsena fella, CNNS for the CNN Sir and CNNM for the ma'm, and my comments are in brackets)

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CNNS: So SS, tell honestly, do you accept defeat

SS: (After some philosophical discourse on how media is supposed to be the fourth pillar -or did he mean fifth column - of the society got into some statistics) - There are 263 theatres in Maharahstra and only 13 (or was it 30?) screened MNIK . In Mumbai only 4 theatres screened it . How do you still say that it was screened in "most theatres" ?

CNNM : (looking at what is perhaps a paper - or was she checking her face in the mirror once more - on the table) But we have here reports that the movie was running to packed houses
( ma'm you did not reply to SS' question or statistics...)

SS: Where are you getting statistics that even the few theaters than ran were packed ? I have seen clippings showing many empty seats

CNNS : Are you saying that nobody in Mumbai has seen the film in Mumbai today ? ( lol, even an LKG kid would understand the difference between what SS said and what you attribute to him)

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What I thought would be a cornering of the SS guy, in just a couple of minutes turned to be a comedy show by the anchors ! I continued my browsing and somewhere I found the other "major news" for the day (I think it was CNN-IBN again). That of how Pramod Muthalik (lets call him PM) got a "taste of his own medicine" when he got his face blackened by "Youth Congress activists" .

Yet again, PM belongs to the first half of the title, but today I am more exited about the second halfers . So how come, when Youth Congress retorts to violence , even if its against another violence, it becomes "getting back", but if only it were a "right-wing" reaction to say a Christian aggression, or an Islamic invasion it becomes "two wrongs don't make a right" . How come when a disputed so-called mosque is pulled down, it becomes "two wrongs don't make a right"? Why don''t the same media call it "Islam getting a taste of its own medicine" ? ( In fact 1 in a ten-thousand part may be) . When Muthalik is attacked "he deserves it" , may be he does, so then what about when CNN-IBN office itself is attacked ?

Going back to Mumbai, some news anchor was seen asking "Who gives Shiv Sena the right to decide what Mumbaikars should do?" . Mam, who give "English News Channels" the right to decide who is communal and who is not, to label some one a criminal even before a court sentences him guilty, to distort facts as it likes and then to remain silent without even an apology when proved wrong ? Who gives you the right to keep bombarding us with distortions and biased reports ?

Though done without a choice, the 2 rupee per month ( well 100 rupee for some 50 channels) that I am paying is really worth it when it comes to " Comedy News Network - India Based N..... " any suggestions for the last N ?

2 comments:

Yaajushi said...

how about India Based Na**yaks (i dnt know whether this word is abusive or not, we in and around nagpur use it frquently enuf, but mumbaikars or punekars may construe it as an out and out abuse :p

Anonymous said...

How about "Comdey News Non-stop - India Based Network" or India Bashing Network