We often receive videos and audio content via various means on social media which we then forward or share. In this, there is a lot of fake information or misinformation that is also propagated; inadvertently or at times by design. Lt Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi tweeted a video captioned “SUN CHANTS OM” and was promptly trolled for this.
“NASA recorded sound of sun, sun chants om”. The video consists of an audio clip beginning in a hum, then the sound of Om and then a voiceover of a person explaining.
One Twitter user shared this YouTube video published in July 2018 from a verified NASA YouTube channel. It features a low-frequency hum and goes on to explain how these vibrations are produced; how they connect us to the sun and other stars.
The video tweeted by Lt Governor Bedi is clearly not an authentic one but something probably created to conform to certain confirmation biases. As such it seems irresponsible for someone in her position to tweet this video. As this columnist tweets, whatever happened to developing a scientific temper?
WhatsApp is known to be a notorious source of misleading and outright fake news. Content is often maliciously created by publicity cells of various political ideologies; now mockingly referred to as ‘news from WhatsApp University’.
The tweeple wondered if Bedi had received the video via these channels. Or whether she was applying for a post in the said university.
Satirist Akash Banerjee tweeted this short video featuring the fictitious character Bhakt Banerjee.
Someone also tweeted a short video from a Bollywood film about alien visitations.
The trolls were not kind to Bedi for her tweet. They clearly felt that someone like her ought to know better.
One troll also expressed the view that this is one of the reasons why aliens prefer not to visit earth.
Will Kiran Bedi's gaffe now become a meme in the way that the PM speaking about clouds, radars and raw wisdom did last year?
Many just thought it was all rather funny.
The tweeple also pointed out how Bedi had fallen prey to other fake forwards in the past. Mostly people just wanted that elected and constitutional leaders of the country should be responsible about what they say on social media and they use some amount of rigour to filter the content they share. Now, is that an unreasonable expectation from our politicians?
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