Just to be clear, we were being sarcastic in our title, because it seems Indian MSM has a serious problem understanding sarcasm. This severe deficiency was shown twice in a day, when 2 news items were given a completely different meaning, only because of the lack of comprehension skills exhibited by Indian MSM.
The day started with MSM blaring out that Maharashtra state may go ahead and ban other meat too, after banning beef. The only basis of this was a statement made by the Government lawyer in a High Court. As reported by DNA, the conversation between the judge and lawyer:
Judge: Why have you banned only cow slaughter, why not other animals. What about other animals like goat?
Lawyer: It cannot be ruled out
Judge (jokingly): “That may lead to migration from the state. Don’t consider a ban on fishes though.”
It seems, the lawyer, just to avoid saying that Beef has been banned for religious reasons, replied in a possibly sarcastic manner, saying the Government may ban other meats too. This explains why the judge, instead of taking serious offence to such a statement, chose to remark jokingly that atleast fishes should be spared any ban. Now it is of course not proper to be sarcastic in court, but media took the words completely at face value and began saying: “Maharashtra Government may ban mutton, other meats”. It is also to be noted it was an open ended reply to a pointed question.
#Maharashtra govt says ‘just the start’ after HC asks why ban only slaughter of cows and bulls http://t.co/3Hmz3MbgyY pic.twitter.com/QZNktbAhSz
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) April 6, 2015
First beef, now mutton? Maharashtra govt tells HC it may extend ban on slaughtering goats http://t.co/uuFldAxXAi pic.twitter.com/LNmH82VFYM — Firstpost (@firstpost) April 7, 2015
Oddly, Firstpost itself later realised its folly, and called it “a throwaway remark” by the lawyer ” because “it was not taken seriously by the bench itself”. Eventually CM Fadnavis himself clarified that they had no intentions to ban any kind of meat. This case may be borderline, but the next is seriously idiotic.
Last week Media gave a lot of attention to Gen V K Singh’s visit to Pakistani Embassy on the occasion of Pakistan National Day. This week, Gen V K Singh was fully immersed in saving Indian’s from Yemen, but the media had not given him adequate footage this time around. This prompted the witty General to make a snide, sarcastic remark on the state of Indian media:
Dekha jaye to yeh kaam utna exciting nahi lag raha jitna mera Pak embassy mai jaane ka tha: VK Singh #YemenEvacuationpic.twitter.com/sPjyg47Bed
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2015
Unfortunately, the sarcasm was totally lost on Indian MSM. Immediately, Hashtags began being trended and debates began being planned:
Zaka Jacob, of IBN even went on to say that there was “no way to confirm that it was a remark in jest” but “he could have been more sensitive” and the “comment could have been avoided”. He also said “Gen Singh hasn’t understood how diplomacy works, what kind of language diplomats use” and that “maybe he is not fit to be diplomat”. We must say Zaka Jacob is quickly filling up the void left by veteran spinners Rajdeep Sardesai and Bhupendra Chaubey, because in his inane comments about V K Singh being insensitive, Jacob forgot a small fact that Gen V K Singh had personally gone to rescue all these Indians in Yemen. They say actions speak louder than words, but for Jacob, a carefully worded statement was more important than actual action on the ground.
