Thalapathy Vijay urges youngsters to be aware of harmful social media influencers

    Thalapathy Vijay cautioned the impressionable youngsters to be aware of the trappings of social media, which is fast overtaking the supremacy of the legacy media houses.

    Thalapathy Vijay interacts with students.

    Thalapathy Vijay interacts with students.

    Tamil superstar Thalapathy Vijay on Friday honoured the top-performing students in the recently announced 10th and 12th class results. Speaking at the event, he shared a few words of advice with the youngsters, who will soon be making choices that will impact not just their personal lives but also the course of the country's history.

    Vijay expressed his wish to see future students also opting for politics as a career. "Tamil Nadu has plenty of world-class doctors, lawyers, and scientists. But the state lacks good leaders," remarked Vijay. He further added that he was not referring to leaders in politics alone but in all fields.

    "In the future, why shouldn't politics become one of the career options? That's my wish. Should well-educated people come into politics or not? Shouldn't the well-educated become leaders?" he asked.

    Vijay cautioned the impressionable youngsters to be aware of the trappings of social media, which is fast overtaking the supremacy of the legacy media houses. He urged the students to develop strong critical thinking abilities to discern news from opinion and truth from propaganda.

    "Many social media influencers easily project bad people as good ones and vice versa. You watch and read everything, but develop the ability to analyze what's true and false. Only then will you be able to know the real problems of the country and the real social evils? Widen your world perspective and pick the right leaders. This ability is the best form of personal politics. That will be your significant contribution towards nation-building," he added. He also made the students take an oath by asking them to repeat it. "Say no to temporary pleasures and say no to drugs." 

    Vijay started this tradition of honouring well-performing students and their parents last year. He will meet another batch of top performers next week. In the meantime, he's busy finishing up the last leg of shooting for his upcoming movie, The Greatest of All Time.

    Written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, The Greatest of All Time will hit the screens on September 5.