When Did Bullying Become Cool? Trolls Mock Deepika Padukone For Talking About Depression

Sometimes I wonder what people gain from collectively bullying someone. Does it make them feel better about themselves? Does bringing someone else down suddenly make their own insecurities go away? Or does the anonymity of social media make them feel like they can get away with anything?

The internet has brought out the worst in people. Ever since the tragic death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, people have suddenly decided that bullying and harassing a person online is completely normal. In fact, that’s their idea of ‘justice’. How does it matter that the case of his death is still under investigation and that we don’t really know what happened? I mean, how does evidence matter when you can make assumptions about people and bully them to the point that it drastically affects their mental health?

First, they went after anybody who had famous parents–Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Jahnvi Kapoor–you name it. Then they decided that it was actually Karan Johar because of whom Sushant lost a lot fo work and bullied him to the point that insiders claimed that Karan was allegedly ‘broken’. Now, Sushan’t girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty has been receiving death threats, rape threats and is being accused of ‘controlling Sushant with black magic’.

Because who needs evidence when harassing someone makes you look so cool?

And just when you felt like these trolls couldn’t stoop any lower, they’re now attacking Deepika Padukone for–you won’t believe it–talking about depression and advocating for mental health awareness. Because how DARE Deepika try to raise awareness about a disease that affects 43% of India’s population? How does it really matter that India has the highest suicide in South-East Asia? Or that we lose 28 people to depression every day?

Recently, the hashtag #RepeatAfterMe started trending on Twitter. Why? Because one Twitter troll called Deepika a ‘mental health expert just because she suffered it a decade ago’. Then, he decided to not only bully her himself, but he also called on all the trolls of Twitter to collectively bully her by saying ‘Tell me what expert you became after what you suffered. Use hashtag #RepeatAfterMe.’

I am still trying to wrap my head around what’s funny or entertaining about collectively bullying a person. Just because someone has a public persona, it doesn’t mean that you have the right to harass them. The aim of a celebrity’s life isn’t just to tailor-make themselves for the entertainment of the public–they’re human beings like us too. 

These trolls seriously need to ask themselves–what exactly are they gaining from collective bullying? Are they getting any closer to finding out what happened to the late actor? And if this was the sensitive and intelligent actor would have wanted–for people to treat other people like shit under his name?

If you’re someone who’s ever left a nasty comment for a celebrity–ask yourself–do you like the person you have become? Because I think it’s time we all did some introspection about what kind of place we’ve turned the internet into. 

Featured Image: Instagram