Dear Jeyamohan,
In a video, you discussed why the animosity directed toward you arises. In truth, my question is this: does anyone who expresses an opinion on social media today—*anyone at all*—ever escape such animosity? Even if a person is merely discussing the most innocuous, uncontroversial topics, the moment they garner an audience of more than two hundred people, the verbal abuse begins immediately. No one is exempt.
I believe this barrage of abuse stems from two primary causes. The first is a profound sense of emptiness—and the bitterness that inevitably flows from it—that pervades our society today. It is predominantly those past middle age who find themselves trapped in this particular hell. Having moved past the daily struggles of survival, they now possess a certain level of material comfort and basic amenities; yet, their lives lack any deeper dimension or purpose beyond the mundane. It is precisely in this void that boredom and emptiness take root.
In times past, the path of bhakti (devotion) served as a source of solace and guidance for such individuals. It offered a compelling framework—both an explanation and an alternative path—to navigate life’s myriad failures and bitternesses. Today, however, Bhakti has largely vanished from the lives of the majority. Modern education and the secular-atheistic currents within contemporary politics have effectively eroded it. Furthermore, the virtues of civility and true intellectual refinement—which ought to have stepped in to fill the void left by the decline of Bhakti—have failed to emerge. All that remains is a sheer, unadulterated materialism. And at a certain juncture, this materialism yields nothing but disappointment and bitterness. It is this very frustration that people are now pouring out onto social media platforms.
The second category consists of individuals who exploit a specific feature of modern social media: the cloak of anonymity. They possess a mindset that revels in hiding behind this veil—hurling stones from the shadows, spewing obscenities from concealment, and gloating over the ensuing chaos.
It is these two groups—and these two groups alone—that swarm across social media, relentlessly abusing and vilifying everyone in their path. The only viable strategy is to simply disregard them entirely and press forward with our own endeavors. This is merely a social malady of our times—nothing more, nothing less.
Anandkumar Narayanamoorthy
