Gone too far!

Jasmine Singh

The word bizarre has a stack of synonyms, weird, freakish, grotesque, unusual and strange being some of them. The word itself has the elements of incongruity and unexpectedness, and when wired to a smartphone or a webcam, results in some strange selfies. Strange to the extent of being insensitive and scary. A recent example of this eerie, is a selfie taken by a teenager in Saudi Arabia after he posted with the body of his dead grandfather. The grainy photo, which is being reprimanded, is taken on the boy’s phone shows him pulling a cheeky face, with his tongue stuck out in a childish manner. Positioned next to him, the teenager’s elderly grandfather’s body can be seen lying still in his bed. His mouth lies open with his head resting peacefully on the side. The selfie is captioned “Goodbye Grandfather’ just points towards the insensitivity shown by the kid.

Having gone far ahead from just pouting, posing, dancing or capturing funny moments with friends, families, the selfie-business is going wee bit far with people, trying to get weirdly creative with this self-obsession! It is okay to indulge in vanity, but is their aneed to draw a line, or bringing in some editing in this affair. After all, posing with dead grandparents, injured people, or from a hospital or even with a deadly whale inching closer- is not fun, or is it? Here in pour in voices from the region, youngsters, actors, singers, homemakers who have a strong opinion on this.

Cut the crap

The morbid photograph with a dead relative did leave many shocked, as singer Amber who has shared the picture on his page has captioned it, “how far will you with this obsession.’ “Selfies are something impromptu; they are consciously designed and obviously performed to grab eye balls. It is definitely not a candid shot; a person taking selfie is expressing himself or herself in a way it wants.”

Check out

Outrageous selfies with a woman clinging to the washroom door, a man sitting on the head of a religious figure, women displaying their belly fat become common. But then there are some who have clicked selfies with victims of accidents, with beggars lying on the road… “Such people have warped minds, some kinkiness which makes them do such selfies,” Angad Bir Sekhon, 23, an engineering student from PU. Angad sees this selfie obsession going to far. “It is like people are capturing moments from the minute they open eyes on the bed in the morning to going to the loo, to waiting at traffic lights. Will someone tell me what does actress Sonakshi Sinha wants to show by posing her selfie taken when she is still in the bed?”

Ode to obsession

While a writer calls Selfie as a constructed reality of the self with elements of reality and authenticity, Patiala-based Sociologist Harjot Virk shares, “Social media allows and even promotes all and sundry to take selfies of all kinds funny, humorous, joyful and even pretentious. However, we are failing to draw a line. Selfies are an invite to invade into ones privacy, which they are okay with. This business has gone so far thanks to the public figures. Sometimes they become so careless that taking a selfie with a differently- abled child struggling to drink water is cool.” Bizzare!

jasmine@tribunemail.com