Speaking at Democracy Wall, Sofia Ashraf said she uses the attention she gets for her unique brand of music to give more artists like her a platform.
Bengaluru: It is good to be afraid of hurting people’s sentiments while posting online, and trolls on the internet need to be dealt with sensitively, rapper Sofia Ashraf said Tuesday.
“Fear is good if you are thinking twice before saying something. Are you coming from a point of loving humanity and not wanting to hurt anyone? Or are you afraid because your social currency will go away? Maybe your intentions are wrong,” she said.
Ashraf pointed out that all trolls on social media were not inherently bad people and had to be dealt with sensitively, rather than with sarcasm and hate.
“Nobody is standing there saying I want to ban beef because I am a bad person…they believe what they are doing is right. And you’re going there and saying what you’re doing is wrong and sometimes you use sarcasm and hate, then you are a troll to them,” she said in conversation with ThePrint’s Nandita Singh, at the second edition of Democracy Wall.
Democracy Wall is a monthly free speech campus initiative organised by ThePrint in collaboration with Facebook. The second edition of the event at Jain University in Bengaluru featured Ashraf, Congress MP Sachin Pilot, actor Huma Qureshi, lawyer Manasa Venkatraman, political commentator Meghnad, IPS officer D. Roopa and comedian Aravind S.A.
Ashraf became popular after her hit 2015 single Kodaikanal Won’t, which called out global brand Unilever for allegedly dumping toxic mercury into the Kodaikanal Lake, Tamil Nadu. It has over 4 million views on YouTube.
On Sexism
Despite being viewed differently by the industry because of the way she looks and dresses, Ashraf claims that she has never faced sexism in the media industry in her decade of work.
“There have been tiny, tiny instances and I have dealt with it…with ambition, with aptitude and with passion,” she said.
Speaking about one such instance, Ashraf said that when a Tamil musician once told her that woman can’t do what men do. Instead of losing her temper, she said she calmly started rapping, making him an instant fan of hers.
“I think it just boils down to how you deal with the sexism. I have faced it but I deal with it, with tact,” she said.
Ashraf said that being perceived as different only opened up more opportunities for her.
“I get a lot of attention because I have a USP…but the way I deal with it is, I choose this as a way to let more of my kind in,” she said.
On caste privilege
The singer also spoke about how growing up she was completely shielded from the idea of caste privilege.
“I was caste blind. I grew up in a privileged household,” Ashraf said.
The rapper said that being blind to caste was a luxury she could afford due to being well-off and having a good education.
Ashraf said it was only when hateful comments and criticism poured in for her viral song Tam-Brahm Boy did she realise that the phrase ‘tam-brahm’ wasn’t just a funny southern stereotype.
“There was only hate hate hate hate. But in between all of that I realised they had a point of view…and now I’m a warrior for not being caste blind,” she said.
She added that to truly help someone to learn from their mistakes, calling them out with hate and sarcasm was not the way to do it as it would only push them further away.
“What is your point of going on social media to call out someone? To feel better about yourself? To feel superior? Ask yourself that. Don’t just call out, call in,” she said.