[ Reader Val’s response to Rohit Verma Booo Hooo! ]
I have to start by saying, I am against any form of censorship. Whether the demand for it is made by the extreme right, left or the center. Yes, there are all sorts of misguided people who propagate dubious information to the vulnerable. I completely understand the frustration stemming from those suffering as an direct or indirect consequence.
However, the response to these misguided people should be demolishing their credibility and creating awareness by countering this with the correct information; not by silencing them. In the very specific case of Rohit Verma, after his antics on Bigg Boss, what he says is hardly taken seriously by contestants who are not always (at the time of publishing this article, I think they are) privy to the misunderstandings he creates and his tendency to contort/exaggerate the things spoken to him in confidence and then conveying it to other parties. His credibility at Bigg Boss house is nil. Everyone’s using him for their own gains to win the game show. Needless to say, people like us who can see his true nature, unedited, thanks to a dozen cameras, should have no faith in what he propagates. Rohit is a pathological .
Homosexuality does not have a clear and scientific proof that can categorically attribute a cause to it. Some have claimed that their attraction to men is resultant of the child abuse that they have suffered. This is their story and indisputable. Others claim to have known their orientation from prepubescent years.. some as young as 9.. How? Why? We don’t know.
Racism, in its more subtle forms continue to exist on television.. The other day on a laughter show, the skit portrayed an Arab as a boy-lover and with homosexual tendencies. The crowds were in throes of laughter over it. This is more clear and easy to define and criticise (should one care enough), unlike those who throw up their own theories on homosexuality.
On what basis is Bigg Boss to size up Rohit? In this singular instance, he had no malicious intent, he was merely saying what he believed to be true. Just as Ismail Darbar announced to the world his mistrust for those with light colored eyes.
