“I’d watched Schindler’s List when I was a pre-teen and it left quite an impression. Humanity is capable of both great compassion and cruelty. How could people allow the mass genocide to occur? As a volunteer, I learned that at the time, the public was kept oblivious to it all. There is an account of a German lady who hugged her Jewish friend and didn’t allow her to be taken away. The Nazis backed off. She was able to save a life due to her refusing to be a bystander. This highlights the importance of asking questions and standing up for others. This is relevant in the context of Nepal as well. Spewing hate for a certain group of people based on their caste, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation and so on is not unheard of.

The internet has brought us closer but not always for the best causes. In October, a teenage boy was arrested for running a Facebook Group called “Rapist Association”. Who knows what other hate groups exist out there, that condone acts of violence against people, based on any social or cultural aspect? Also, there’s the recent case of Nikisha Shrestha, who was verbally abused and harassed on the street, just for being a part of the LGBTQ+ community. No one deserves that. I think it’s apparent that hate speech is something that needs to be checked.

I like memes just as much as the next person, and there is nothing wrong with having a bit of fun but where do we draw the line? Must we always cross the line of humor into bullying? Tagging friends on photos of people who have non-conventional physical appearances and making jabs at them doesn’t sound very good to me. The internet has this uncanny ability to perpetuate any kind of behavior, so, I feel we should be wary of what we put out into the world as a collective.”