Yes, Gen Z crossed the line at CJP protests. But it was a mind virus

Many believe Gen Zers crossed the line by abusing the prime minister at the CJP protest at Delhi and Mumbai. Actor-MP Kangana Ranaut called them the Gutter Generation. The Gen Z isn't that. Do not blame the victim for what the virus does.

It is a weird juxtaposition. Actor-MP Kangana Ranaut and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. But the situation, many believe, is weirder. Gen Zers, privileged and educated, using the choicest of expletives for the prime minister of the country. They crossed the line, say many. But the reaction to that can't be a knee-jerk one — blame an entire generation and move on.

The use of sexist expletives by protesters at the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP's) protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and Mumbai to attack the prime minister on camera will be difficult for anyone to try and defend.

The youngsters, for once, forgot that the prime minister is the head of the government elected democratically by millions across the country. Democracy gives you the right to criticise him, but decency expects you to refrain from abusing him. That too, in public.

Several people I spoke to in the last couple of days weren't shocked by the mortar-mouthed Gen Zers. They were either following Instagram very closely or working amid them in cities. I plan to write soon on how we reached this point. But let us, for now, return to Ms Ranaut and Mr Nietzsche.

Kangana Ranaut's school of politics is based on not trying to be politically correct. The BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi vociferously expresses what she believes in.

On Monday (July 27), Kangana called Gen Z "generation gutter" and their videos from the CJP protests "puke-inducing". In a post on Instagram, she described videos of protestors at Jantar Mantar as a display of "filth, garbage and ugliness".

"Never in my life have I seen so much ugliness in one place, these reels from Gen Z protests are puke-inducing, the way they speak and the kind of language they are using, never in my life have I seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at ones, ewwww who is birthing and raising them," Ranaut said.

Sociologist Kumool Abbi explained that cuss words against authority are often done to create shock value, to provoke, to show aggression and be noticed.

Abbi, a professor of sociology at Chandigarh's Panjab University, explained that young women use cuss words "to express group bonding, seek validation and acceptance and to be thought as cool in their peer group", adding, "The disrespectful words against the prime minister must be condemned."

Gen Z, within their groups on WhatsApp and Instagram, use expletives as part of their lingo. The content they consume, including the stand-up shows, have normalised the use of cuss words. However, all these, till now, have been in a close setting. Jantar Mantar and Shivaji Park are public spaces. The cameras captured the Reels and spread them across the country.

Kangana's "who is birthing and raising them [Gen Zers]" is the billion-dollar question. Biologically, we know who. But non-biologically, it could very well be the mobile vulgus.

In the preface to Nietzsche's The Antichrist, American essayist HL Mencken writes, "... The mob is the most ruthless of tyrants"

The mob is a tyrant that gives the chills even to tyrants. Students of history will remember the storming of the Bastille. A mob is capable of turning individuals into tyrants, at that moment.

That's why it is commonly said that "a mob has many heads, but no brain."

Not all of those young protesters who uttered those expletives did so out of hatred for the PM. They did that for shock value, exactly like the stand-up comics they follow do. Most of those women, individually, wouldn't have hurled those abuses at the PM. They did so at that moment because of a mind virus.

The cheers that the first expletive received was the point where the virus mutated. This virus doesn't spread through contact but through air — sound waves, to be specific.

Like their favourite stand-up comedian, the young protesters were attempting to shock. And, they succeeded.

Instagram, which has popularised cute cat videos, has also nurtured a copycat syndrome. One baddie abusing and going viral prompts another baddie to try and better her. The race is real. One Reel at a time, at 2X speed.

The crowd gathered at the protests was eclectic. There were unemployed youths and workers, students and artists. There were cisgenders, transgenders and queers. But they weren't representative of the entire Gen Z of India. To be honest, it was never a Gen Z protest. Neither those on the stage leading the protest, nor most of those participating were Gen Z. The activist who starved himself was a boomer. It was only after the brutal police action on July 20 in Delhi that the number of protesters, including Gen Zers, swelled.

A gathering of people from such diverse backgrounds is prone to mobile vulgus. It's a Latin term that is used to describe a restless (mobile) and easily excited group of people (vulgus) whose opinions and emotions change fast.

Our in-house columnist, Kamlesh Singh, in an Opinion piece, explained India's mobile vulgus problem.

"There is something vulgar about a crowd, especially when it moves, physically or emotionally. The human equivalent of a flash flood, only instead of water, it carries questionable judgement and a distinct lack of personal space and agency," he wrote in a piece in February 2025.

The mobile vulgus has led to stampedes at railway stations and at Kumbh Mela. The mobile vulgus has resulted in lynching and mob justice. In a populous country like India, the immunity to resist a mobile vulgus infection is very low.

But we also need to remember that India doesn't live in a single age at a given point in time, and the people don't conform to a single age or generation. You will see lines of wisdom on the forehead of an adolescent from Banka, while you will witness a 60-year-old kidult at Bandra Bandstand.

So, it would be unfair to agree with Kangana and call India's Gen Z "generation gutter". The few bad-mouthing young women weren't representative of youngsters from across India. Across India, millions of Gen Zers are studying to ace exams, millions of others are sprinting, and playing musical instruments and following their passion. While the CJP protest was on at Jantar Mantar, around 20 lakh students appeared for the NEET-UG re-exam on June 21.

They are the silent Gen Z majority that Kangana has discounted and the millennial cockroaches at Jantar Mantar never bothered to highlight.

The expletive-hurling Gen Z, a small section of the entire generation, was doing at the NEET protests what the generation is known for — challenging authority. One shouldn't blame them for the mind virus and poor parenting that made them hurl the expletives on camera. The internet doesn't forget. And that the videos will be sitting out there for the rest of their lives is punishment enough for them.

News is originally taken from: https://bit.ly/4fFWzul

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