WHY THE GUTTER LANGUAGE?

 

 

Young people at the recent Jantar Mantar protest (primarily the CJP-led agitation over NEET and other exam paper leaks, irregularities, and demands for accountability including the Education Minister’s resignation) used abusive and foul language for a mix of generational, technological, psychological, and situational reasons. This harmed the optics of an otherwise legitimate grievance even as other Gen Z participants actively pushed back against it.

 

The protest drew large numbers of students and young people (often described as a “Gen Z revolution”), with creative placards, memes, satire, and genuine anger over repeated systemic failures that affect futures and trust in institutions. Police action on key days (including the July 20 march attempts) escalated tensions, injuries occurred on both sides, and the site saw both disciplined volunteering (cleanliness drives, medical help, human chains) and disruption (abusive slogans, hooliganism, near-lynching of a media person in one reported incident). Organizers and many participants themselves publicly urged against vulgarity, noting it undercut the cause.

 

Anger and adolescents

Conflict resolution skills are imbibed in childhood. It is not uncommon for adolescents to revolt against parents, who appear to them as species from alien planet. A gradual drip of acrimony turns into a bitter and unforgiving swamp causing a fossilization, or worse, death of their relationship. An ever changing world appeals to adolescents whereas parents often hold on to their experiences, beliefs and patterns. Revolting adolescents never react to just the moment, but to a 'story' they have told themselves several times about how low opinion their parents have of them! They dust an old ledger of unresolved arguments and grievances in their defense, using it to suppress guilt and rationalize.

 

When these children hit the streets for genuine grievances, instead of coherently speaking their mind they end up angry, giving emotional and volatile arguments, often ending in filthy abuses and violence. They feel that their parents, the government, the Judiciary, the police, the media all are conspiring against them. Little do they understand that violence, whether physical or verbal, is counterproductive to their cause?

 

The emotionally disgruntled and verbally irresponsible youngsters who yell back at a version of parents at home, who actually do not exist, are the ones who were hurling abuses at the authorities and indulging in violence in the streets. While parents can be all forgiving, it is good to see the government too trying to be the same. But physical and verbal violence and loss of public property and life can not go unpublished. 

Why the foul language?

Several overlapping factors explain it:

Social media and cultural normalization: Gen Z language is heavily shaped by Instagram, reels, memes, group chats, and stand-up comedy, where expletives, shock value, and irreverence are routine for engagement and “authenticity.” The boundary between private/peer speech and public speech has eroded. What once stayed in closed circles spills into streets. Virality rewards the extreme; a shocking slogan or misogynistic taunt travels farther than measured critique.

 

Anger + crowd psychology: Deep frustration over paper leaks, perceived unaccountable institutions, limited opportunities, and (for some) heavy-handed policing produced raw expression. In large crowds, individual restraint weakens. This is classic crowd dynamics. A section becomes impatient and theatrical; others try to hold the line. Some anti-social elements can amplify this.

 

Generational style of dissent: Earlier Indian protest cultures often prized moral high ground, restraint, and formal slogans (Gandhian or JP-style discipline). This cohort prioritizes immediacy, satire, ridicule, and refusal of deference. Humour and memes (“Kuchupuchu resign kar do” style baby-talk mockery, Hinglish one-liners) are effective tools, but they easily slide into personal abuse and patriarchal ‘gaalis’ that target women of the opponent’s family—ironically recycling the very language many claim to reject. Young women using such terms was particularly noted and debated as either subversive reclamation or a failure to invent better vocabulary.

 

Lack of understanding of the context: Many of those hurling abuses at the Prime Minister and CJI had no clue about what they were angry about. They could not coherently rattle down their grievances. Lack of substantive understanding was compensated by string of abuses. If the Gen-z thinks that this makes them look cool, they have to think again. It makes them look hollow. They at once lose the sympathy of the masses.

 

Performance and identity: For some it signals group belonging, toughness, or fearlessness online-to-offline. The same digital habits that enable rapid mobilization also import online toxicity and “mind virus” escalation once the first cheers for an expletive land.

 

Not every young protester did this—many explicitly rejected it and focused on constructive work—but the visible minority dominated coverage and damaged broader sympathy.

 

How to address it in future

Abusive language is not inevitable, nor is it effective long-term. Successful movements (JP movement, earlier student agitations, Gandhi’s campaigns) understood that moral legitimacy and discipline protect the cause from being dismissed as mere hooliganism. There are a few practical steps that can be taken:

 

Internal norms and leadership organizers: Protest leadership must set and enforce clear codes early—volunteer stewards, stage announcements against personal abuse, and rapid distancing from violence or pure invective. Self-policing by participants (as some did at Jantar Mantar) is more powerful than external lectures. Channel energy into the creative strengths already on display: satire, art, memes, documentation, mutual aid.

 

Civic and media literacy: Schools, colleges, and civil society can teach the difference between private venting and public persuasion, the history of effective non-violent discipline, and how optics shape outcomes. Young people already innovate linguistically; the goal is expanding the repertoire of sharp, witty, non-degrading dissent rather than moralizing away anger.

 

Root causes matter: Persistent unaddressed grievances (exam integrity, employment, institutional trust) keep the pressure cooker hot. Dialogue, visible reforms, and lower reliance on force reduce the fuel for explosive expression. Governments and institutions that treat youth concerns as legitimate lower the temperature.

 

Broader culture: Parents, educators, and media model the public language they want to see. Algorithmic amplification of extremes is a structural problem; rewarding substance over pure shock helps. Stand-up and online culture will continue normalizing coarse speech, but public political spaces can still maintain higher standards without sanitizing dissent.

 

Conflict resolution within a family

It all starts within the family, and conflict resolution between siblings and with other family members sets the tone for future. Parents can do a lot towards this end:

 

1. Defining rules and boundaries for arguments

Arguments are an inseparable part of relationships, regardless of whether they are between spouses, parents and children, or even siblings, so it is important for everyone to know what is expected of them during an argument. These rules and advice are valid for almost any argument or dispute ranging from fights over toys, through problems of adolescence to the relationship between child and parent and even between parent and parent. The basic rules for debate are:

(a)  Do not insult - you can disagree or be angry without using words or behavior that hurt.

(b) Respect each other - after all, we are a family, one that loves all its members. 

(c)  Stay calm - communicate with each other in a calm, slow, honest and clear manner.

(d)  Listen without interrupting - listen to each other without planning your response while listening.

 

2. Encouraging creativity

Once both sides in the argument know what they want and are fighting for it, then any conflict can turn into one big misunderstanding with each side "stuck" in their position. However, what if both sides will ultimately agree on the same things but chose to fight the whole way to a solution? As parents, you must encourage creative or unique ways to bridge the gap and reach a solution. Encourage fairness and full transparency, but teach them to recognize that the solution might not be for the benefit of all parties. 

 

3. Compromise and inclusion

Not everyone gets what they want when they want, but families can work on it so that everyone is satisfied; Not perfectly, but in a way that’s acceptable to all. Try to see the situation from the perspective of someone else in the family so you can at least try to figure out what it is that they’re feeling. When it comes to quarrels between siblings, this responsibility will be on the older one, and it is highly commendable for them if they fill it. In addition, teach your children to show empathy for others, and it will serve them faithfully in the future as well. Children who are exposed to compromise-based actions often become ambassadors of peace in their social circles, and in the future in the professions of their choosing.

 

4. Being mindful of the time and place

During an argument, it is important to remember the beautiful saying that if you have nothing nice to say, doesn’t say anything at all. In addition, there may be moments when one side of the conflict is very angry and cannot speak logically. In such a case, a break is necessary - step aside and agree to disagree, or to talk about it later. We all know someone or remember a situation in which one of the sides in the argument continued to escalate the situation and everything got out of control. To prevent this, we as parents should convey the message that it is okay to postpone arguments, the sun will rise tomorrow morning and all involved will continue to be members of the same family. Perhaps the debate will be no more important or than tomorrow, but it is better than exacerbating the current situation.

 

5. Expressing oneself clearly

In resolving conflicts, it is important that we not only listen to the person in front of us and try to understand their position, but also that we know how to express clearly what we feel. Therefore, you must learn to clearly share what you’re experiencing within you because people can’t give you what you want if you do not tell them clearly what it is. Small children usually have difficulty with this process, but if you help them do so, the situation will improve to the point where your help will no longer be needed.

 

6. Seek a solution to a problem that both sides will benefit from

In order to be able to meet this principle, I recommend that at the stage of finding solutions, you be careful about two rules:

(i)                Try to find a solution that both sides are satisfied with

(ii)              Propose as many solutions and alternatives as possible, so that there isn’t just one solution on the table.

The purpose of this tool is for each side to understand and agree on the solution and leave with the feeling that there is a way forward. So, keep in mind the following three points:

(a)  Both sides need to understand beyond a shadow of a doubt what the agreed solution is.

(b) Both sides must commit themselves to fulfill their promises in favor of the solution.

(c)  Both sides need to think of ways to prevent this conflict, or others like it, from recurring in the future.

 

7. Open and sincere communication is always the solution

Open and honest communication is no longer a hollow cliché, it is the way to solve conflicts, at both high and low levels. It is enough to look at the news and see how conflict resolution between countries is very similar to children learning to play together. Like countries, small children say everything they think, want and feel without filters, and often they do not understand the other side. On the other hand, most of us understand that we will not always get what we want, and we must also know how to lose and give in from time to time. The question is only, what do we do with this knowledge? Will we cry and complain every time we have to face a loss or compromise? The likelihood of this is not high. Therefore, even within the family unit, it is important to remember and remind ourselves that only through creative thinking, interpersonal communication, and an honest and positive approach can we reach a solution to conflicts.

 

If we choose to conceal information and not share our feelings, thoughts, and desires in a transparent and honest way, we will never reach an agreement on both the personal and family level. At no stage I am suggesting that those protesters who were incoherent, who lacked substance, and who were abusive, vulgar and angry, instead of calm, cool, collected and coherent did not have healthy parenting, but, did their parents feel proud of their gutter language the uttered on the streets? I don't think so. 

Genuine anger over real failures deserves hearing. Turning that anger into disciplined, creative, non-degrading pressure is both more strategic and more consistent with the better instincts many young participants already showed. Future movements will be stronger if they treat civility and focus as strategic assets rather than optional extras.