A HUNGER STRIKE does not make for good content. Instagram recommends hooking viewers within three seconds, using trending songs and keeping videos under three minutes “to help your reels break through”. Add to that the unwritten but universally understood rule that photogenic young women are reliable scroll-stoppers(划屏终结者). So a middle-aged man lying around doing nothing for days on end was never going to go viral(走红，病毒式传播). Algorithms demand spectacle(奇观，引人注目的场面).
绝食抗议并不是好的内容素材。Instagram建议在三秒内吸引观众，使用热门歌曲，并将视频控制在三分钟以内，“以帮助你的Reels脱颖而出”。再加上一条不成文但普遍理解的规则：上镜的年轻女性是可靠的“划屏终结者”。因此，一个中年男子连续几天躺着无所事事，是永远不会走红的。算法需要的是奇观。
That may be why Sonam Wangchuk had been wasting away(日渐消瘦) without much notice since June 28th, despite the efforts of the social-media team in the Cockroach Janta Party, a youth protest movement with which he had allied himself(与……结盟). Mr Wangchuk, an activist and education reformer from the far-northern territory of Ladakh, first came to India’s attention in 2009 as the reputed(据称的，普遍认为的) inspiration for the lead character in a Bollywood hit about India’s flawed education system. He was to fast unto death(绝食至死)—or until Narendra Modi fired the education minister for repeated exam leaks, the latest of which had driven 20 aspirants(考生，有抱负的人) to suicide. His death was the likelier outcome. Mr Modi has never sacked(解雇) a minister for incompetence.
这或许就是为什么索南·旺楚克自6月28日以来一直消瘦下去却未引起太多关注的原因，尽管他加入的“蟑螂人民党”（一个青年抗议运动）的社交媒体团队付出了努力。旺楚克先生来自遥远的北部拉达克地区，是一名活动家和教育改革者，他首次进入印度公众视野是在2009年，当时他被认为是宝莱坞一部关于印度教育体系缺陷的热门电影主角的灵感来源。他打算绝食至死——除非纳伦德拉·莫迪因教育部长多次考试泄题而将其解雇，最近一次泄题已导致20名考生自杀。死亡是更可能的结果。莫迪先生从未因无能而解雇过任何部长。
For three weeks the government did not feel the need to engage with Mr Wangchuk and his group. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has built up Mr Modi’s image as a strongman(强人，铁腕人物) who never compromises. Television news functions as a propaganda arm of the government. Supine newspapers serve its agenda by omission if not by commission(即使不是主动作为，也是通过不作为). It has an army of digital foot-soldiers(数字步兵，网络水军) who diligently spread its messages. The party has mastered the art of shaping the narrative(塑造叙事).
三周以来，政府认为没有必要与旺楚克先生及其团体接触。执政的印度人民党（BJP）将莫迪先生塑造为一位从不妥协的强人形象。电视新闻充当着政府的宣传工具。顺从的报纸即使不是主动配合，也通过选择性忽略来为其议程服务。它拥有一支数字步兵大军，勤勉地传播其信息。该党深谙塑造叙事之道。