DJ Ajit Pai performing in Goa, India
Say hello to the DJ in India who just happens to be named Ajit Pai.
DJ Ajit Pai was surprised to find his Instagram account suddenly blowing up. Maybe something went viral, or he got a nod from Diplo or something.
Unfortunately, neither of those things had occurred.
Thanks to a very unfortunate coincidence, the Goa-based DJ found the comments on every one of his Instagram posts flooded with anger. That’s because the other Ajit Pai is the chairman of the US-based Federal Communications Commission (FCC), responsible for ending net neutrality last week.
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Accordingly, users were slamming the DJ for ‘taking away the internet’ and ‘stealing our net neutrality,’ among other attacks. In fact, those were the mildest comments. More vitriolic attacks included a death threat, an endless litany of f—bombs, plus a health dose of “get cancer you moron” type attacks.
And those we found after just five minutes of checking Pai’s comment threads.
DJ Ajit Pai also has the url ajitpai.com, which complicates things further. As commissioner Ajit Pai enraged millions of people with a rather condescending ‘PSA’ video on net neutrality, people stormed the web trying to find direct contact information. All of which led to a flooded in-box and a clogged Twitter account for DJ Pai.
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Given how far DJ Ajit Pai is from America, it looks like he’s safe from in-person encounters. Back in the US, commissioner Ajit Pai has been battling protesters outside his home, many with over-the-top signs and campaigns to disrupt Pai’s neighbors.
Eventually, people started realizing they were attacking the wrong guy.
In fact, most of Pai’s comment threads feature people either attacking or defending the DJ, with hundreds per post. Few are commenting on the picture that’s actually posted.
“Holy shit, how are people so stupid?” one person remarked. “Do they really think the head of the FCC in America is a DJ in India, at the same time? What a fucking time to be alive.”
As for the Goa-based Ajit Pai himself, the DJ seems to be taking things in stride. In a recent interview with The Verge, the DJ recognized that the hate was totally misplaced. And mostly a really unfortunately coincidence, so it’s hard to take that personally.
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Perhaps most interestingly, Pai pointed to a very similar situation in India. “They came up with the same stupid plan for India too and the whole country protested the exact same way,” Pai relayed.
“Repealing net neutrality is like taking away the opportunities from the less privileged independent online entrepreneurs, knowledge seekers and giving only the corporates and wealthy the edge in business and education too. That’s kinda undemocratic and unfair.”
You misspelled “Goa” as “Boa” in the last part lmao
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