Media Buddhi

H R Venkatesh, Divya Chandra, Archis Chowdhury
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A podcast that gives us tools to navigate tricky, polarising questions with our friends, family and community. Each week, Venkatesh, Divya and Archis tackle words from a single letter (such as A for appropriation, allyship, algorithm, anxiety, etc.). mediabuddhi.substack.com

  1. 06/06/2025

    Three Paragraphs From Three Books

    One paragraph each from three books that I’ve been reading. What’s not to like about that, I thought. And so I decided to plunge headlong into the world of Substack Video by reading out one paragraph — no more — from each of the three books. I hope your mind feels quieter after watching or reading this. The first paragraph is Learning from Silence: Lessons from More Than 100 Retreats by Pico Iyer. “A monk is at heart the ultimate man of the world. That’s where his sense of kindness and self-sacrifice is most needed, and it’s to those in trouble that he must attend. He may deepen his commitment in private, but it’s the streets that he has to reap the blessings of his practice.” I chose this paragraph because there is a temptation to believe that monk is someone who withdraws from society, and I was reminded by Iyer that this is not true at all. The second paragraph is from In a Flight of Starlings: The Wonder of Complex Systems by Giorgio Parisi. He is a Nobel Prize winner in physics but he writes in very clear prose. “This…is the scientist’s calling: to imagine or to do what no one has done before. But we cannot spend our lives attempting to open locked doors that no one has a key to. Before beginning, it is crucial to understand whether or not we have the competence, technical skill, and tools that will allow us to accomplish the job. Even then, nobody has any guarantee of success.” Parisi is the best of the best, and yet here he is, asking us to be careful before taking moonshots. He finishes the paragraph with this line, “We to have throw ourselves headlong into the task and aim high. Still, if the target is so high we have no chance of reaching it, then it’s better not to begin.” The third paragraph I want to share is from What Ten Young Men Did, a coming-of-age novel. It’s a translation of a Sanskrit classic from the 7th century C.E. called the Dasakumaracharita by Dandin. The thought I’m sharing from this book actually comes from a small introduction to Sanskrit in the beginning of the book. Isabelle Onians, the translator, writes that Sanskrit literature is full of puns or wordplay. Here’s more from her: “Classic Sanskrit literature can abound in puns (slesha). Such paronomasia, or wordplay, is raised to a high art; rarely is it a cliche. Multiple meanings merge into a single word or phrase. Most common are pairs of meanings, but as many as ten separate meanings are attested.” I first saw this book at the wonderful Albert Bender Room at the Green Library at Stanford University. Among all the Latin and Greek classics, there was an entire shelf of the Clay Sanskrit Library, and I chose this book to read. I sat in a deep and comfortable armchair and read for about 10 minutes. It put me to sleep. When I awakened some 15 minutes later, I replaced the book and went home. But the charm of Dandin’s masterpiece stayed with me, and I bought a personal copy. That was in 2019. Since then, I’ve been reading a little here and there. It has proved to be utterly charming. And so, let me round off with an example of the wordplay. She quotes the following line This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

    Three Paragraphs From Three Books

  2. 02/03/2023

    11. What Does A Year's Worth Of Fact-Checks Tell Us About Misinformation In India?

    As digital investigators, fact-checkers are forced to look at the small picture, magnifying glass in hand. We zoom in so much—to work out if something is manipulated or not—that we might as well be looking at pixels and 1s and 0s. But what happens when you zoom out and look at the big picture? What does our work through 2022, all 1135 fact-checks, reveal about ‘fake news’ in India? Here at BOOM, we crunched the data and munched on the numbers, and then we spat out an annual report. (In this endeavour, our tool of choice wasn’t any statistical toot but the humble spreadsheet.) But what should we read into the report? And what do those graphs mean? And what does it mean when we say that: * Muslims were the biggest targets of false claims in India, but also the BJP and Narendra Modi. * The misinformation landscape and the model for analysing them here needs to be different from the approach that works in the West. * BOOM does not favour any particular party. * We cannot fact-check everything because not everything is fact-checkable. * Muslims and Hindus were both targeted, but in different ways. * Most of the 76 media misreporting incidents of 2022 were based on stoking communal tensions. This special episode of Media Buddhi A-Z is for all those who want to dig into the misinformation/disinformation ecosystem in India. The report and this podcast is a good start. If you want to look at our data, please get in touch with us. In the episode: Jency Jacob - Managing Editor, BOOMDebraj Sarkar - Senior Researcher, BOOMArchis Chowdhury - Senior Correspondent, BOOMDivya Chandra — Producer, Workshops and TrainingH R Venkatesh - Director, Training and Research As always, thanks for listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

  3. 01/08/2023

    10. What Is An 'IT Cell' Really?

    How should we refer to the problem of information overload? Should we take a health ‘frame’ and speak of ‘information pollution’? We talk through various options. We also have our second guest on the podcast! Sophie Zhang, a former Facebook employee who turned into a whistleblower talks, us through the term IT Cell: what it means, why living in a world governed by them is dangerous, and how to recognise them. We round up the episode with a brief reference to two more words starting with I: Identity and Intersectionality. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

  4. 11/20/2022

    9. Is 'Homosexual' A Neutral Term? And Revisiting The Hate Speech-Extreme Speech Framework

    We have our first guest on the show today! Dr Ritumbra Manuvie at University College Groningen, who is also a founder of The London Story, a nonprofit that monitors disinformation and hate speech in India. The story of how she came to speak to us is so…Twitter, where she disagreed with a video we put out advocating for the use of extreme speech over hate speech. After a back and forth on Twitter, we decided we should invite her to the podcast and explain the difference between dangerous speech, extreme speech, and hate speech. Other than hate speech, we also tackle homophobia and ask the question, is homosexual a neutral term? (It is not.) We also talk about horse-trading and how that’s a unique phenomenon related to Indian politics. References Book: Read This to Get Smarter: About Race, Class, Gender, Disability, and More by Blair Imani. Dr Ritumbra Manuvie’s work with the University of Groningen and the nonprofit she founded The London Story. Book: Social Media and Hate by Shakuntala Banaji and Ramnath Bhat (free to download) The Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious. What qualifies as hate speech? F.A.Q. on Hatebase.org. Did you like this episode? One way in which you can support us is by sharing this episode on whichever platform you wish. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

  5. 10/30/2022

    8. A No-Confusion Guide To Gender, Sex, and Sexuality

    In this episode, we discuss the following ‘G’ words: Gender, Gaslighting, Gatekeeping and Grassroots. * Why Gender, Sex, Sexuality are often confused with each other, and why all three are not binaries. Rather, they’re a spectrum. * What is a Grassroots campaign and how is it different from an Astroturf campaign in the world of politics, society, culture and justice. * Gaslighting: What it is, and what exactly is political gaslighting. * Gatekeeping: When is Gatekeeping a good thing and when it is not. References: Book: Read This to Get Smarter: About Race, Class, Gender, Disability, and More by Blair Imani Article: How politicians manipulate us - Media Buddhi Did you like this episode? One way in which you can support us is by sharing this episode on whichever platform you wish. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

  6. 10/06/2022

    7. What Does Feminism For Men Look Like And What Exactly Is The Difference Between Far-Right, Fascism, Fringe Elements and AntiFa?

    In Episode 7 of the podcast, we discuss ‘F’ terms. * Why Fake news is such a terrible term and what’s the difference between fact and truth. * Why the run out of England cricketer Charlie Dean by Deepti Sharma gives us two examples of Framing the debate i.e. getting it right. * Feminism isn’t just for women alone (in case you didn’t know it). * Is there a difference between far-right and far-left? And what about fascism, fringe elements, and AntiFa? In the next episode, we tackle the letter ‘G’. Do write into us to suggest words and topics to tackle and corrections, if any. Did you enjoy listening to the episode? One way in which you can support us is by sharing this episode on whichever platform you wish. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

  7. 09/15/2022

    6. 'Extreme Speech' Is A Better Term Than 'Hate Speech'. And Have We Retired 'Eve Teasing' As A Term Yet?

    In Episode 6 of the podcast, we discuss four ‘E’ terms and words: equity-diversity-inclusion, ethics, extreme speech, and eve-teasing. We talk about the subtle-but-important difference between equality and equity. The nuances between what is and what is not inclusion. Are ethics a matter following the rules or looking at the context or both? How are ethics in journalism different from the ethics of fact-checking? Why a deep form of subjectivity is sometimes the best kind of objectivity. Why the term extreme speech is better than hate speech. And why it may be time to stop using the term toxic masculinity and use another term. What is the problem with the term eve teasing? What is difference between sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual assault? In the next episode, we tackle the letter ‘F’. Do write into us to suggest words and topics to tackle and corrections, if any. Did you enjoy listening to the episode? One way in which you can support us is by sharing this episode on whichever platform you wish. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

  8. 08/11/2022

    5. Demographic Anxiety Leads To Religionized Disinformation + Decolonising Our Minds

    In this, Episode 5 of the podcast, we examine five ‘D’ terms: disinformation, decisions, demographic anxiety, decolonising our minds, and dog whistling. * We talk about the daily decisions we make (some 35,000 of them) and why that makes us susceptible to disinformation. * We discuss why disinformation related to the Muslim population of India is so effective when targeted at Hindus. * We look at how the legitimate exercise of decolonising our history has been mixed up with the dangerous project of rewriting our history. * We also ask whether India is now past dog-whistle politics, given that we now seem to have open calls for violent action. As always, do get in touch with us if you want us to discuss new words. In the next episode, we tackle the letter ‘E’. Did you enjoy listening to the episode? Consider subscribing for free to receive new episodes and support our work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mediabuddhi.substack.com

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About

A podcast that gives us tools to navigate tricky, polarising questions with our friends, family and community. Each week, Venkatesh, Divya and Archis tackle words from a single letter (such as A for appropriation, allyship, algorithm, anxiety, etc.). mediabuddhi.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    H R Venkatesh, Divya Chandra, Archis Chowdhury
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © H R Venkatesh
  • Show Website
    Media Buddhi