Jimmy Rustling: Beyond the limits of satire?

If you were to write a satire on the biggest issue in Nigeria, what would it be? And what would be the reaction of the people and government of Nigeria to such a publication?

In India, the biggest issue appears to be rape. India is said to be second in reported rapes in the world behind the United States, though critics say this is only because most rapes in India go unreported. So, it happened that early November, while the citizens of Assam, a small state northeast of India, slept, someone somewhere kept vigil ‘on their behalf’. Jimmy Rustling, 34, from Phoenix, Arizona, USA, put his fingers to the keyboard, and by the time Assam people woke up on November 2, the story had gone viral online.

Titled ‘The Assam Rape Festival In India Begins This Week’ and published on the National Report website, the article purported to announce to the world the commencement of this year’s annual Assam Rape Festival where “every non-married girl age 7-16 will have the chance to flee to safety or get raped”. It quoted the imaginary head of the annual festival, Madhuban Ahluwalia, as saying: “This is a long time tradition in Assam dating back thousands of years. We rape the evil demons out of the girls, otherwise they will cheat on us and we will be forced to kill them. So it is necessary for everyone.”

The story claimed the festival began in 43 BC when Baalkrishan Tamil Nadu, who is remembered every year at the event, raped everyone in his village of Doomdooma. Consequently, the trophy given to the man with the most rapes is called “The Baalkrishan”. It also quoted another fictional figure, 24-year-old Harikrishna Majumdar, as telling reporters: “I’m going to get the most rapes this year. I’ve been practicing all year. I rape my sister and her friends every day. I will be rape superstar number one! I will get the Baalkrishan prize this year for sure!”

As expected, the report outraged people in India, with Daarun Gupta, assistant commissioner of Assam Police CID’s cyber crime cell, reportedly saying the Indian government has taken up a ‘suo moto’ case holding National Report and the author of the story accountable. And Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, reportedly told a press conference: “This defiant act against the great people of India will not be tolerated. America has gone too far this time. This rape festival story is not funny whatsoever. The country of India is ending its diplomatic relations with the United States until we have received a sincere apology from President Barack Obama. The sacred country of India demands satisfaction!”

Meanwhile, a reprisal article from an Indian group titled “The Great American Mass Shooting Festival Begins Next Week”, also published in National Report, has also gone viral. The article, purportedly written from Glendale, Arizona, USA, said the annual Mass Shooting Festival provides the great American people an opportunity to exercise their God-given, and constitutionally protected, right to bear and use arms. It also claimed the organisers of the event, The Freedom Group, hoped for record participation this year, expecting more than 100,000 mass shootings during the week-long event.

“Now that many of the soldiers are back from Iraq and Afghanistan, we are expecting heightened participation. We have special Iraq and Afghanistan-themed shooting zones (we call them Enduring Freedom Zones) complete with women dressed in Burqa and children dressed in Kurta and Lungi,” Rice W. Means, the fictional chief organiser of the event, was quoted as saying.

For the records, the US has what have been referred to as “notoriously liberal gun control laws”. It has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world – an average of 88 per 100 people, according to a 2007 Small Arms Survey. America sees far more gun violence than countries in Europe, and Canada, India and Australia. When a person kills another in the US, though, he or she generally uses a gun: 60 percent of US homicides occur using a firearm, which is the 26th-highest rate in the world; whereas in other gun-permeated countries, such as Finland (45.3 guns per 100 people), only about 19 percent of homicides involve a firearm, according to reports.

Well, a first-time reader of the Rustling article would easily believe the rape festival story. Incidentally, there is nothing in the story that suggests it’s a satire. But Rustling would later tell CNN that the story was meant to raise awareness about the serious issue of rape in India while raising money for the women that live there. “Most women in India can’t get help or contact the police. If they get raped it shames their family, or the court finds that it was their fault because of the way they dressed, or they don’t believe in God hard enough, or there wasn’t enough witnesses, or they get stoned to death by reporting the rape. The list goes on and on. I can only imagine how many reported rapes there would actually be in India if they treated women like human beings, having the same rights as men, instead of objects that are married as slaves. Hopefully, my article is a wake-up call to them. Get tough on rape India, stop allowing men to do this, this is what most of the world thinks of you,” Rustling said.

But unlike Rustling, the author of the reprisal article stayed within the limits of propriety, making it clear that his was a satire. On the reason for the article, the author said: “I think American gun control laws should be tighter and taking cover behind the garb of the Second Amendment ain’t gonna cut it. I really do not understand why the average American needs any firearms, let alone automatics and snipers. Similarly, we Indians are ashamed of the crimes against women that happen in India, be it rapes or domestic violence or the general lack of freedom many women face in their daily lives. We want a change in mindset but that doesn’t happen in a day or week or even a year. It takes time.”

Obviously, the Rustling article, while it may have taken satire way too far, may have also achieved one positive thing: it has brought the issue of rape in India to public glare in a way never been done before. And National Report, which published the article, was magnanimous enough to include the link to Giveindia.org, a group that raises money and gives 90-95 percent of it directly to the cause of helping women in India, which provides them with proper education, shelter, food, help in getting out of abusive relationships, rape counselling, and much more. At the last count, the site has recorded over 2,000 visits.

So, whatever negative impact the article may have had on poor Assam, a state known for its beautiful wildlife sanctuaries, a place of hills and valleys and rivers and a great culture, there is also a positive side to it. For me, if Rustling could do a satire that would get to the root of Nigeria’s problem and get the people and government on their toes, thereby driving change for a better Nigeria, then let the ink flow.