As a student of the humanities field, I am curious about the transparency of the data that has been put out for the public, who seem to blindly believe it.
“Learning Sociology, I learned about my society, culture, and India” – Kamala Bhasin.
This is the kind of knowledge, that we, as students, grasped from experts in the field; by acknowledging true life events and also observing the reality of marginalised groups. One question striking me everyday is, if it’s the reality, then what’s shown in mainstream media? is it really reliable?
In my opinion, no mainstream media channel or platform would be able to put up thoughts which are considered as “radical” or “ intellectual “ or encourage subjects that produce more people who hold such thoughts and beliefs. Because if you question them, then you are violating those (unsaid) norms and laws which our society knowingly or unknowingly has created and even the government follows the same.
In my observation, you are only accepted by society up to the point that you follow their ideologies (mainstream); the minute you become a transgressor or dissent or question the function, you may be tagged as ‘ leftist’ or ‘anti-national ‘.
Living in a democratic country, everybody has their rights and freedom which are being curtailed. But when it comes to academics or institutions which have a long history of teaching about the marginalised, they are now being questioned for what kind of materials and subjects are taught.
Especially subject such as “Women’s Studies” are not so popular or the subject that is taken up by the students, one is lack of awareness and the second is the funds that are not or (lesser) provided to them by the government. Because such and few other subject talks about the facts and stories of the marginalized that needs to be highlighted and also problems faced by them, which our mainstream media doesn’t highlights and even if it does they romanticize it for their viewers. And also gives space to be critical and dissent. The intersection of the both Academia and Media is important because we as human beings look for things which pleases our eyes, rather than looking at things which will shake our souls. Every citizen has a right and freedom that are assumed to be known. But such subjects and other radical and individual media houses helps us to look beyond the things that pleases our eyes but invades our soul and helps to look beyond the unscratched surface and become voice for the people and fight for the rights in right way. By sometime being on the part of left.