‘Freedoms once granted will not be relinquished without a fight. The lesson applies as well to the politics of family as country [1. Ousting of Gorbachev, 2. antipathy of Viet, Baghdad veterans, 3. Fatwa on Rushdie etc.]. The parents who grant privileges or enforces rules erratically invites rebelliousness by unwittingly establishing freedoms for the child.’ – Influencing by Cialdini

Imagine Kapil Sibal admonishing the citizens of India for calling him a bad parent once in a while. I don’t remember a moment in my childhood when I didn’t think ill of my parents when I was forced to do my homework, or they cut my play hours for being a brat.

‘From now on you get to play for an hour lesser than your usual play hour.’ Imagine your mother saying that to you. How does that make you feel? Want to run away? However your mother never did that and never will a mother do that, because it won’t work. A parent is smarter than that. If Kapil Parent Sibal is about to get tough, who and how shall he/she be affected most?

First and foremost hate in social media might not be used by people without strictest affiliations with competitors. For instance a group or an individual might circulate or publish something loathsome only when he wants to influence more against the parent. An individual reaction has to identify and trigger HATE in the audience to generate sympathy for the cause; ‘HATE’ itself being the easiest of tools that is universally used. Who then would be the ones most affected?

1. Political Agents

2. Media writers with affiliations.

3. Harmless Signal boosters (who are sitting aplenty as facebook and twitter users).

We can always argue that true thinkers don’t have to be offensive, they are neutral. However if we go back to ‘Edward Bernays’ and his classical PR and Propaganda, what good is neutral thinking and publication unless it can provoke people for good or bad? People after all need some of it, everyday, at office (gossips about Mrs. Khandenwal), at home (how the neighbor’s daughter eloped)…and that’s where it ends. We need some of it everyday, to cull our appetite. More of ‘Crime Patrol’s are occupying prime time along side laughter shows, the only two things we miss and need the most. (I wonder the impact that free media would have had on the extremity of Ku-Klux Clan.)

The question then is can our Kapil Parent Sibal successfully create the vacuum? It seems he might need to have the power of ‘Durga’ and the might of ‘Shiva’ to censor all such content. Unless he can cut out facebook, twitter and to that matter internet access all together, children will find some new Swiss Bank to park their money and thoughts. He will have to punish countless children who carry the urge to spit on his spic white coat just because they are not supposed to. How bad can children get with parents who have been asked not to fish in their parent’s pockets, not fiddle with the cell phone and laptop? More often than not the cell phone ends up in the bucket full of water, and the keyboard malfunctions when you are working late night on your presentation.

What do we expect then if the ‘ban’ happens?

-Rebellion and more creativity. Parent Sibal can ‘ban’ content on facebook and twitter but he can’t stop the avatars that are around the corner. He can’t even surmise the forms and shapes. Things I can think off right away are:

1. Parent Sibal having multiple names in the cyber world so ‘ban crawlers’ can’t catch them

2. Employment for the cyber police team, Z-category online bodyguards.

3. More shoe throwing drills. (Sadly we fail to differentiate between bad weather and the weatherman)

4. God save those who share their names with Parent Sibal.

Since all carry ‘RIP’ one day… (Here lies a parent who always had good intentions).