Samsung and Tarun Tejpal have something in common — both were recently given the finger by social media.
The technology giant’s spanking new ad for its S Pen was apparently doctored by this software-happy mischief maker who owned up/took credit with a comment on this website… unless, of course, it’s a lie and Samsung has the world’s most juvenile and cocksure copywriter on its team. The lewd version that went viral that had “The penis, mightier than the finger” etched in virginal white on a bright blue billboard popped into my news feed last morning, accompanied by adept analyses by social media grammaticians on how it wasn’t a simple case of a missing space (between the words “pen” and “is”) but the comma that gave the mystery away. Stuff that makes you go: WTF… What the Finger, that is.
Coming to more serious misconduct, Tehelka’s head honcho was attacked by social media — and thankfully so — when the traditional media underplayed the alleged sexual assault of an employee “his daughter’s age”, as well as his self-imposed punishment of stepping down as Editor-in-Chief for a period of six months after an unconditional apology for a “bad lapse of judgment”. Many fingers were also pointed at Managing Editor Shoma Choudhary for shielding the big boss; here’s an exchange of emails between the two about the “unfortunate incident”.
The latest finger to be pointed by Choudhary belongs to none other than the employee herself, who has now resigned from the firebrand organisation that “failed” not only her but also “women, employees, journalists and feminists”. With her full resignation letter now in the public eye, and Tejpal declaring it a “fleeting, totally consensual encounter of less than a minute in a lift (of a two-storey building!)” despite the Goa police terming it rape, only time — and the law — will tell us who’s right.
Ironically, this case of an intern accusing a recently-retired Supreme Court judge of sexual harassment doesn’t really inspire blind faith in the latter. Which brings us to the million-dollar question: Why do men in power risk years of blood, sweat and toil for a few seconds of sexual gratification? To name a few, remember corporate bigwig Phaneesh Murthy’s funny business, self-proclaimed Godman Asaram Bapu’s unholy behaviour and film actor Shiney Ahuja’s not-so-shining maidservant saga?
And then we blame only the roadside Romeos for giving international status to the rather-indigenous term — and activity — called eve-teasing.
Image courtesy: BCCL
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