Sanity ahoy? Silent sanitisers on the rise

Just when you thought we're doomed to death by drowning in a billion opinions, a new species has emerged: the sanitiser. Unlike their liquid counterparts that battle germs, these very young folks are quietly disinfecting airwaves of opinion crowded by Generation Alpha upwards. These Gen Beta beta-betis are deploying the most radical weapon known to humankind: silence, in all its manifold forms. In the living room where Uncle Ravi is about to launch into his 17-min TED Talk on pros and cons of SIR, the resident sanitiser slides in, armed not with rebuttal but with a serene hush. The room is disinfected. This fumigation is now slowly but surely spreading across social media.

Sanitisers know very well that the world has reached peak opinion density. Sanitiserism argues that the only true antidote is not more counter-opinions, but fewer opinions altogether. Muteness is the new manifesto. Critics complain that sanitisers are passive. But they miss the point. Passivity is the point. In fact, the less you say, the more powerful your disinfectant aura becomes. So, let us try and quietly nod to sanitisers. They are the bleach wipes of discourse, the hand gel of human interaction. And in this cacophony of endless chatter, these 1-2-yr-olds remind us that empty vessels make the loudest clangs. Now to hope they'll grow up keeping their faith.