I was recently invited to an international conference on ‘Social media and society in India’ at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. My topic was the space for criticism in India. The organiser, Joyojeet Pal, affable but focused, teaches at the School of Information. Pal studies the data, both big and small, to understand how social media influences human behaviour. In one of his co-authored papers, he argues that it is not the big as much as the small-but-crucial data that provides a better grasp of how things are really moving.
I couldn’t agree more. I consider myself less ideologically programmatic than pragmatic and curious. That is why, in the roomful of left-leaning Indian and US social media influencers, I thought I should offer my main—rather than pain—point in the form of a sutra. India is a criticism-surplus society which is criticism-deficient where it matters.
Improvement is impossible without criticism; modernity depends on it. As also on creativity and innovation. But the more powerful we are, the more imperious and impervious to criticism. In fact, we think that our critics are our enemies. We hound, harass, even jail them. But that is not the path to greatness. Not everyone who criticises us is corrupt or contaminated.
When will we realise this? Indeed, we need to regain innocence after experience, as William Blake suggested. I was speaking mostly to myself. Because, as I said quite candidly, “If I read this room right, there is not a single person who supports the Indian Prime Minister or his party. I have also been in rooms which are exactly the opposite. You could make a similar statement about the US. Such fragmentation and polarisation hurts democratic societies.”
Ergo, one side’s hall of fame is the other side’s wall of shame. I was using phrases that I had heard over dinner the previous evening. The way out? Intermedial hermeneutics. No side has the exclusive or absolute claim to truth. We can’t be ideologically non-aligned. But we must understand and accept our leanings and limitations. After, we can’t believe our own propaganda.
That, in a sense, captured why I left academia—and why I also longed to return. The academy ought to be a safe space where differing views can be expressed respectfully and rationally. But it no longer is. Our ability to unpack and bridge such deep social and ideological divides is severely threatened. Whether in the United States or India, many academics seem baffled, frightened, and unsure of their future.
Last year, I took voluntary retirement from Jawaharlal Nehru University, once India’s leading Left-leaning institution. My experiences there are detailed in my book, JNU: Nationalism and India’s Uncivil War (2022). I experienced a campus suffocated by ideological conformity; the Left’s intolerance was stifling. But Right rigidity and anti-intellectualism are scarcely better. Earlier, I had watched scholars and students shunned for daring to question Marxist dogma or exploring nationalist perspectives. Inquiry gave way to loyalty tests. Now, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme.
In the big tech world too, fundamental questions are often sidelined for metrics and growth. In fact, the more negative and more sensational the content, the more eyeballs and clicks. In the superficial digital chatter, one misses the depth of academia, its insistence on probing root causes, even if it is sometimes lost in theory.
What I liked about the conference on social media was the rich and diverse mix of speakers, almost every single one of them smart, well-informed and deeply immersed in their art and craft. The conference, tackling social media’s role in India’s politics, culture and economy, united scholars, influencers and practitioners. Unlike the usual echo chambers, it offered a lens on the incessant polarisation. Accessible digitally to a larger audience, it invited global voices, proving academia could engage the world without losing rigour.
Space constraints allow just one example. Viraj Sheth, co-founder of Monk Entertainment, highlighted social media’s complex operations. Sheth, who manages influencers like Bollywood stars and the recently disgraced ‘Beer Biceps’ creator Ranveer Allahbadia, spoke about navigating the influencer economy. His agency builds brands, turning talent into fame and money. We are all ‘users’ hooked to scrolling, he said. But when the algorithm is done with you, the platform dumps you. Digital snakes and ladders lead to mental illness. Each night, we seek the last desperate dopamine fix just before we turn in. Sheth called it “hooks and tricks”.
Disinformation and drama, cheap fakes as well as deepfakes, devastate lives. The missteps of influencers ripple through millions. Are we going to return to smaller communities to counter the tripe and hype?
To me, rearming the truly educated with deep cognition is the only antidote to pseudo cognition. Criticism and creativity show the way forward. That is how intermedial hermeneutics works, finding clarity and lucidity in a confusing world by refusing to succumb to readymade answers and positions.
But those who speak truth to power need protection. Who will provide it? A social media exposé against the corrupt and the powerful can result in grave personal loss, injury, even death. Who will safeguard the guardians of truth and democracy? The fourth pillar, mainstream or digital, lies broken by political power and public distrust.
I enjoyed listening to presentations across so many disciplines and perspectives. But that is because I have learned to reject ideological cages, preferring disciplined inquiry and the old-fashioned search for truth. Whether by studying algorithms via computational tools, politics and propaganda by social theory, lives via literature, or activism via motivated philanthropy. No one method is perfect. Insularity does persist, even fester. But what is Sanatan Dharma if it is not faith in the dictum satyameva jayate?
Tech’s tunnel vision, academics jousting in silos, funded research or activism—all these will persist. But so will the urge to make society more humane, equitable, and the world a better place. To be deeply aware and conscious of our responsibilities is already to have taken sides.
Makarand R Paranjape
Right in the Middle
Author and commentator
(Views are personal)
(Tweets @MakrandParanspe)