The “Assam Rape Festival” is a Joke. Get over it.

It's satire. Now move on.
It’s satire. Now move on.

Right on cue, Indians are “protesting” against the satire article on The National Report talking about fictitious The Assam Rape Festival. Apparently it wasn’t obvious that it was a satire, and even if it was obvious, there are limits etc etc. So the question arises. What exactly are they objecting to? That someone thought of the idea? That someone wrote it down? That people are offended? What exactly is the problem here? Apparently when it comes down to it, most people in India can’t digest the idea of Freedom of Expression. At the first sign of someone getting offended, they’re all for banning it, taking it down and pressing charges against those who say stuff that upsets them.

Coming to the article itself, ask yourself this. If instead of India and Assam, a European country like say France was mentioned, would anyone have thought it was real? No! Yet many thought that it was true about India. Ever wondered why? Just something to ponder. Good satire is one that leaves you unsure of whether or not it’s real. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve started to read an Onion article in all earnestness and only later realizing that this just can’t be true. But the idea is to have a grain of truth in it. And that is precisely what the article in The National Report has. It’s a searing indictment on the casual way many people in India think about rape. I feel it’s brilliant.

And let’s not have any of the “US rape statistics are higher than in India” nonsense either. The gang rape of the photojournalist in Mumbai revealed without doubt that most rapes in India go unreported. Probably more than 90%. And that’s not even counting the absurd legality of marital rape in our country! So hold back on the bullshit statistics trying to make India look good in this regard.

If instead of India and Assam, a European country like say France was mentioned, would anyone have thought it was real?

Let’s get one thing straight. You have every right to get offended. You have every right to object to the article. You have every right to condemn the newspaper, every right to encourage people to boycott it, every right to remedy the misinformation with correct information, you can spread the word that it’s satire, and you can even say that it’s in bad taste. All this is making use of your own freedom of expression to get your point across.

What you may not do however, is seek to ban the article, put the writer in jail, or otherwise bring legal action against them. You may not threaten the writer with physical force or otherwise physically coerce them into taking it down. There’s a very clear line in the sand.

And before someone starts, spare me the “reasonable restrictions” crap. It’s tiresome. Every nutjob claims that his or her particular restriction is “reasonable”. No one says that their particular brand of offense is “unreasonable”. Leave the definition of what is reasonable and what is unreasonable to the courts thank you very much. And since this particular article is subject to US laws, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that it will be banned or the writer penalized. Honestly even if it was India, I doubt that the Indian Supreme Court would have struck it down. These days our courts are taking a more and more liberal interpretation of the freedom of expression.

The bottom line is that the “Rape fest” article hit a nerve. And that nerve needs to be hit…repeatedly. We need to talk more about it, not less. Whether intentional or not, the offending post has once again demonstrated the ugly truth about India…to ourselves.

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11 thoughts on “The “Assam Rape Festival” is a Joke. Get over it.”

  1. I read the article… thought it a good satire though not to my taste and left for a short holiday (away from TV, news etc). I was shocked to see this uproar when I came back.
    I think people are just pretending to misunderstand just so they can make a noise. I mean c’mon, no one can be that dumb.

    Reply

    • In reply to Nidaa

      People here are very sensitive about how India “comes across” to foreigners. They don’t care about whether or not that perception has some truth to it. Only that others shouldn’t think badly of them.

      Come to think of it, that’s symptomatic of a deeper malaise as well.

      Reply

  2. I am an Indfian. I live in India.Very few people in India understood that it is a satire; i initially did not know that this was not true either. Now that i do know, i feel that it was in bad taste that the editor of this publication accepted the article without stating clearly that it is a satire…

    Reply

  3. the common man of our Indian Society will not think of it as a sattire and esp for a topic like rape. Don’t you know people participate in candle march around their city and the “Masses” include those dirtbags too who gaze leacherously at a girls’ assets!
    No that my friend is a very “offensive” article..!

    Reply

  4. Thank you for writing this! You have expressed what any sane person would say and believe about freedom of speech. Plus the part about satire making us wonder if it is true or not, and that there is a grain of truth in this, AND that this nerve needs to be hit again and again…

    Heck, I agree with every word you have written! I am going to share this on my FB page – hope it is okay with you.

    Reply

    • In reply to Cee Kay

      Thanks Cee :) . We like to brush stuff under the carpet and we’re particularly terrified about the “outside world” focusing on our problems. We like to keep them “within our country” and get doubly outraged when it catches the eye of the International community.

      Here’s an example of a reporter trying to tell Mallika Sherawat to not talk about women’s issues outside India. Fortunately her response is brilliant and vehement. Regardless of what I feel about her acting, this is how every woman in India should be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHSikgTOz70

      Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        Oh I saw this interview too, on Upworthy.com. I was impressed with Ms. Sherawat. I haven’t watched any of her movies so can’t comment on her acting skills but I was floored by how she stood her ground.

        I have had friends tell me to stop writing negatively about our problems too because, like you said, they want to keep it “in the family”. Ridiculous. If they truly feel ashamed about the situation, they sould do something about it. The reason I speak up about these things is because I feel ashamed and I want to do everything possible to bring the focus on the issues so they can be corrected.

        Reply

  5. If you account for the social reality that humour is cultural, you’d start to see why this article caused some flutters. Satire as a form of humour in the mainstream media, is a concept alien to Indians, especially those who aren’t exposed to foreign cultures (where such humour is ‘normal’). It isn’t unlike how Americans get all offended by British style scattergun sarcasm or irony. I think its a bit of cultural clash, fused with the taboo around anything that makes a joke of rapes.

    Reply

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