The Third Slip: Issue 107 - Take it EC policy
Hello, Slippers! Welcome to The Third Slip –the weekly newsletter that’s the modern-day equivalent of a sternly worded letter to the editor from a citizen who’s had enough of the bullshit they’ve been dealt with on a day to day basis.
It’s probably never going to be read, but there is a chance that the editor who has recently seen a spike in his cholesterol and blood sugar levels will use the aforementioned letter to soak up the excess oil from his 4 pm pazham pori. You may say that helps as much as ordering a Diet Coke with a double cheeseburger and fries, but hey, every little bit counts. It gets something off our chest and his. On with issue 107...
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We’re hurtling towards a May where it might happen all over again–a leader who has lost some sheen and is starting to show signs of vulnerability is still ahead of the pack and will in all likelihood engineer yet another victory for his old team - CSK. But first, let’s look at the election news...
Electile Dysfunction
EC er said than done: In the playground of democracy, institutions are supposed to be the referees. But, much like increasingly irrelevant umpires in cricket and other sports, they’re being reduced to that one kid in the playground who cries foul and expresses his displeasure at the bullies by putting katti with them while said bullies continue to do what they want. The EC told off the Niti Aayog Vice Chairman for violating the MCC, Yogi and others for calling it Modiji ki sena etc, only for them to shrug and channel their inner Eric Cartman saying “Whatever, I’ll do what I want”.
The count of mani festo: It’s an unfortunate challenge of our times that the real basis on which elections should be fought and governments held accountable for end up as documents whose only function is to keep the word “manifesto” alive in the English language. But, it’s heartening to note that the manifestos released by the CPI and then the Congress in word at least focus on progressive and inclusive policies, including promises to do away with draconian laws such as sedition and criminal defamation. The BJP is yet to release its manifesto, focusing on more important things like calling everyone else anti-national. Perhaps this is what works when manifestos are taken as seriously as Winzip’s requests to upgrade.
Picture abhi baki hai: NaMo TV apparently doesn’t have a license to operate, making it technically illegal. Bah, rules are anti-national anyway, who cares? Meanwhile, the movie starring Vivek Oberoi that tells the story of a powerful politician and legendary leader is turning out to be a big hit. We are talking about Lucifer, of course. Not the Modi biopic, which apparently is delayed. Rumours that someone in the party saw it and realised it’s so terrible that it will do more harm than good are unfounded.
Hum toh faker aadmi hai: Anyway, good luck to India this season and good luck to Facebook and Whatsapp trying to stem fake news–the latter launched a “fake news checking service” which later turned out to be… Not a fake news checking service. It was a research process to figure out how to deal with private message based fake news. Kind of like having a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and just arranging the pieces by colour in order to start somewhere.
Other news from India
Give me some space: NASA said all the debris from India’s geared-for-vote ASAT spectacle might damage the International Space Station. DRDO assuaged this by saying all the matter will disappear (or, er, not matter?) in 90 days while several others politely (or well, not so politely) reminded America that they’ve created the maximum space debris so stop complaining. Net-net: there’s enough environment for everyone to destroy, ok?
App-less romantic: For those pining for the good ol’ days of India banning stuff instead of killing people—the Madras High Court has banned… TikTok?!
DeMocrazy: So a new report has shown demonetization has improved tax compliance. Cool, the money should help with the livelihoods and lives lost. Not to mention, the black money that keeps flowing. Everyday.
Around the World
Anti-notional: In Turkey, Erdogan had virtual control of the nation post his referendum and alleged election-rigging. Add to that the ingredients of the season of rabid nationalism and matters of pride and it would seem that the Recipe Erdogan would be irresistible. But, in a heartening turn of events, his party lost the local elections in many key cities in Turkey.
A postpone truth world: Frustrated that nobody in her own party is voting for her proposals, PM Theresa May turned to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn for help. Whatever they did didn’t help: Another week, another request for extension … Even the authors of TTS weren’t as slack during engineering college assignment submissions.
America frust: His former lawyer said Trump instructed him to lie. About what? By now, who cares? Trump doesn’t—he’s yammering on about a trade deal with China (not closed), claims the US can’t take immigrants because it is full (bro has clearly never to Dadar), and stopped funding to three Central American countries who really need it (which Fox news referred to as three Mexican countries. LOL). Democrats’ favourite new word is “subpoena”—they’re using the law to try and get the full Mueller report and Trump’s tax returns. Given their state of confusion, that’s the way to go: sab peena chahiye.
Hummus > Humans: As predictable is comedy from Brexit and facepalm from Trump, is the abuse of human rights by Saudi Arabia. This week, cracking down on journalists and women’s rights activists. Of course, if you’re from Saudi Arabia, you might not be sure what either “journalism” or “women” are.
Whose live is it anyway?: Australia passed a massive law that will hold tech companies liable for violent content hosted on their platforms. Till now, social media giants have been operating on a “listen I just own the apartment, if my renter turns it into a brothel that’s not my problem” approach.
Sult shaming: Last week, we told you Brunei passed a law to stone / amputate gay people. This week we saw the social media backlash of that, including calls to boycott hotels owned by its obnoxiously wealthy sultan.
Tech
Fixing the con in content: As always, Facebook’s had a busy week: calling for regulation, removing 800 misinformation-spreading FB pages from India and Pakistan (good), shadily removing Zuck’s old blogposts (bad), to making the news feed more transparent…
YouTube Brutus: Everyone’s been taking a sh*t on Facebook who, to be fair, is actually trying to do something about hate speech and all. So here, take this nice long article about how YouTube is doing nothing to tackle potentially worse content.
AI-la: YouTube’s big sibling Google isn’t having a good week either—it dissolved an AI ethics board one week after creating it. Lolz.
Gadgetafix: One of the more progressive ideas doing the rounds in the upcoming US Elections is Elizabeth Warren’s right to repair: Which basically forces tech companies to make it easier for people to repair their gadgets.
A long time e-coming: Online shopping overtakes brick-and-mortar for the first time in the US (on another note, has anyone seen the word “mortar” being used in any context apart from comparisons with e-comm?)
Our Weird, Awesome World
Sweating bullets: A Swedish cop in a sauna realised a fugitive was co-saunaing and proceeded to arrest him, even as both of them were in their birthday suits. Best.
If you can’t eat bread: Rich Nigerians are ordering pizza. From… London.
LinkedOut - The best things we read this week
Those hipster cotton tote bags you use to save the environment might actually be worse than plastic ones. Oh no.
5G will be operating on a different frequency (literally). Maybe now we should be worried about cellphone radiations.
One amazing person is trying to stop Instagram influencers!
The problems arising out of digital illiteracy for the elderly. Not that it’s anything you don’t know, but here’s why Google+ failed.
But now to something Google might succeed in: gaming. A theory is that Google might use “how you game” data to slot you as aggressive, risk-taking, etc. Before you scoff, keep in mind Google has used innocuous data to make big stuff before.
A great read by a veteran, who misses war.
That’s it for this week. Wanna say hello? We’re on Instagram (Chuck | Tony), Twitter (Chuck | Tony), and good ol’ email. Come say hi! And share The Third Slip indiscriminately—on your Instagram story or even your WhatsApp status. People use it more than you realise as is evidenced by our subscriber spike this week. Until next week, may your shower always dispense water at the perfect pressure and temperature. Bye!
