The ‘WhatsApp uncles’ are worried. Like the October weather, the social and political climate around them is beginning to change and they don’t quite know what to make of it.The youth protests burgeoning across India over the last few months have begun to shake their faith in the Narendra Modi government and its assurance of the equivalent of a 1,000-year reich. For a demographic accustomed to having all the answers, this turn of events is proving unsettling.In order to understand how the WhatsApp uncle is likely to be dealing with this changing reality, we must first understand his psychology.The term ‘WhatsApp uncle’, popularised by journalist Ravish Kumar, typically describes a middle-aged or older man who confidently forwards unverified messages, doctored images, fake news and propaganda as fact, relying on WhatsApp forwards rather than credible sources. He is also remarkably resistant to correction. (This definition applies equally well to ‘WhatsApp aunties’.) Over the last few years, however, the term WhatsApp uncle has come to represent a broader personality type characterised by the following traits:He is always right (even when spectacularly wrong)Bertrand Russell once observed, “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” The WhatsApp uncle, sadly, tends to belong in the former category. To him, self-doubt is a foreign concept, because the facts are whatever he says they are, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Admitting a mistake is unthinkable, because, if he were wrong about one thing, he might have to – heaven forbid – consider the possibility that he could be wrong about others things, too.He confuses obedience with respectAt heart, the WhatsApp uncle is a patriarch who believes that a good citizen is an ‘obedient child’ who follows instructions and doesn’t ’cause problems’. The citizen who asks awkward questions, on the other hand, is the ‘problem child’. Decisions are not to be debated but handed down as diktats (decrees). Dissent, particularly when it concerns the government, is not a legitimate expression of disagreement but an act of insolence, if not outright deshdroh (treason to the country).He speaks ‘at’ people, not ‘with’ themWhatsApp uncles are terrible listeners. They have little interest in other points of view and even less patience for those that challenge their own. They love holding forth but hate being contradicted. For them, a conversation is not an exchange of ideas, but an opportunity to deliver a sermon. They are the masters of the monologue.His emotional vocabulary begins and ends with aggressionThe WhatsApp uncle has a very limited emotional toolkit. For him, empathy is weakness, introspection is unnecessary and anger is the default response to anything that unsettles him. When reason fails, he raises his voice. When even that fails, he questions your patriotism and love for your country.He mistakes control for strength and deference for respectBeneath the WhatsApp uncle’s swagger, most probably, lies a deep personal insecurity about being challenged. He thus demands deference, loyalty and compliance rather than putting in the time needed to earn trust, invite debate or build consensus. His deepest fear is not that people will disagree with him, but that they will discover they don’t need to obey him.§WhatsApp uncles, of course, have always existed (even if they weren’t always known by that name), but the majoritarian sociopolitical climate of the last 12 years in the country has fanned their prejudices and given them license to be brazen, aggressive and vocal.But the times they are a-changin’, and the young are asking questions, taking to the streets and refusing to fall in line. The old certainties are being challenged and the familiar responses of outrage, abuse and accusations of deshdroh are simply not succeeding in silencing disagreement anymore.For the WhatsApp uncle, this is new territory. What is he to do now?Much like a cult member whose cult is suddenly in danger of been disbanded, or whose leaders suddenly no longer look divine, the WhatsApp uncle is now left with only two choices. He can either stubbornly hold on to his worldview and double down on his beliefs and certainties or he can loosen his grip on them a little and, perhaps for the first time, admit to himself that he may have been wrong.The latter option is not an easy one, because exiting a cult (in the broadest sense of the term) is never easy. Ask anyone who has. However, chances are that you won’t find too many, because not too many people leave the cults they have been a part of. It is much easier to keep believing a comfortable lie than it is to go through the painful process of facing an inconvenient truth. How are we to deal with a WhatsApp uncle who is similarly faced with the fact that he is not living in amrit kaal, a 25-year “golden era” vision introduced by Modi in 2021; that India is not a vishwaguru (world teacher) and that Modi and his acolytes are not the paragons of light and perfection they would like you think they are? If the person in question has realised the error of their position and given even the slightest indication of this realisation, it is perhaps best to avoid saying “I told you so!”, no matter how deeply they may have exasperated you in the past. People are far more likely to act on a truth they arrive at themselves than one imposed on them by others. I believe, as anyone who has ever managed to exit a cult would say, it was their friends’ and family’s non-judgmental acceptance that helped them do so. But for those whose minds are made up and who do not wish to be confused with the facts, it is best to avoid locking horns. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. And for those who wonder if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters and the WhatsApp uncle/aunty population will ever change, consider what All India Students’ Association (AISA) President Neha Bora told me in an interview at the height of the youth protest at Jantar Mantar in July. On the 18th day of her fast, and too weak to sit up, she said, “Every day, around 40 to 50 people visit us and ask for forgiveness. They say, ‘You are sitting on hunger strike because we voted for the BJP. Please forgive us.’”Rohit Kumar is an author, educator, and journalist and can be reached at letsempathize@gmail.com.