Veteran filmmaker Kumar Shahani has said the Christchurch terror attack is a fallout of the unquestioned proliferation of technology.
Speaking at a session on ‘Culture and Education’, organised as part of the Young Scholars Congress (YSC) here on Saturday, Mr. Shahani said the ghastly incident in New Zealand brought to the fore the rationality behind the patronage extended to the arms industry in the world.
“It is high time we questioned the non-neutral use of technology that are being utilised. Technologies have become powerful so much that they are beyond scrutiny,” he said.
He also criticised the reluctance shown by global leaders including United States President Donald Trump in demanding harsher gun control laws. “Mr. Trump has evaded from making a statement against the arms lobby. The proliferation of arms and ammunition has led to the emergence of militant powers who possessed the technology to wage wars,” Mr. Shahani said.
He also drew parallels of the live streaming of the massacre in New Zealand with incidents that have occurred in India. “The mass rapes, which were filmed during the Surat riots in 1992, showed how imaging could be used for evil purposes. Such actions were fundamentally against human values,” he said.
Noted poet Prabha Varma, academicians Meena T. Pillai, C. Padmanabhan and A. Pasalathil also participated in the session.
