Father Stan Lourduswamy, popularly known as Stan Swamy, died on Monday after a cardiac arrest early morning on Saturday. Stan Swamy was an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and had multiple serious allegations against him.
An NIA Court had observed that he was a member of the banner CPI (Maoist) and was engaging in activities to further the objectives of the organisation “which is nothing but to overthrow the democracy of the nation.” The deceased Swamy was receiving treatment at the Holy Family Hospital, Bandra where he passed away.
Given his antecedents, there were some who expressed their happiness and satisfaction over the fact that the 84-year-old man had passed away. Liberals are deeply unhappy and angry over the matter, that some people are joyous at the death of someone they call ‘human rights activist’.
While it does appear crude to feel celebratory over the death of an individual, there are times, however, when it is hard to stop one’s innermost feelings brimming up to the surface. And Hinduism has numerous injunctions against celebrating someone’s death. For instance, Lord Rama paid respect to Ravana on his deathbed.
Even so, should anyone want to celebrate the death of an ideological opponent, then he ought to learn from the very best, that is, the liberals themselves. Thus, here is a ‘toolkit’ for the purpose, created after carefully studying the manner in which liberals have been celebrating deaths for long.
After all, they have celebrated the death of Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Manohar Parrikar, Rohit Sardana among many others.
Dehumanize the deceased
People must take utmost care to ensure that they are dehumanizing the deceased while celebrating their death. The deceased can be branded a ‘fascist’, ‘genocide enabler’, ‘fascism enabler’, ‘hatemonger’ among other things.
If all else fails, then surely allegations of ‘misogyny’ can be thrown about. After all, the objective is to justify one’s happiness at a political opponent’s death and such allegations, that are intended to deny the humanity of the deceased, always come in handy.
Exaggerate flaws and invent victims
In order to further deny the humanity of the deceased, it is of paramount significance that their flaws are exaggerated beyond all measure and invent victims, fictional if necessary, to paint the deceased as a monster.
It does not really matter if the victims are real or not or if the deceased hurt them in any way whatsoever, but it is essential that the deceased is blamed for all the misery of the alleged victims. Consequently, the deceased’s flaws must be exaggerated beyond all measure, to the point where someone who is not familiar with the person would assume that he had horns growing out of his head and his canines reached outwards to his neck.
Sophistication is the key
Another important aspect to remember while celebrating a political opponent’s death is that the celebratory posts must carry with them a certain deal of sophistication. Posting Memri memes and other such antics will not do.
The posts must carry all the pretense of being the creation of the lead scientists at NASA. For example, there were those who celebrated the death of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with the song “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”.
Similarly, pick up a dictionary, or go through Shashi Tharoor’s Twitter account and use some of the most difficult words you can find in your celebratory post. It enhances your credibility automatically.
Present yourself or your dear friend as the deceased’s victim
Victimhood is a powerful tool. Once you have successfully presented yourself as the victim, you can get away with basically anything. And if there is a collective group of individuals claiming victimhood, then all the better.
For instance, self-proclaimed ‘victims’ of transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, racism, capitalism among others can get away with rioting, looting, burning books, attacking peaceful individuals and censoring others’ freedom of speech and expression.
Similarly, if one could claim that they have been personally wronged by the deceased or someone they love have suffered the same fate, then they can easily get away with celebrating the death. It does not have to be true but it serves the purpose.
‘They deserved it’
The overarching objective of the celebratory post has to be to prove that the deceased deserved to die. The first four points must be weaved in such a pattern that the reader automatically reaches the conclusion that the deceased is a morally reprehensible human being who has caused real harm to a great many individuals and hence, deserved to die.
It is even better if that message can be conveyed without expressly stating it for it then enhances the sophistication quotient of the post even more.
