Sri Lanka, Dec. 2 -- The bravado has not died off, not by a bit. In messaging groups proliferated by Sri Lankan journalists and those connected to the media, there is no lack of digital macho-men and women. Macho is something that I have gotten used to working in at least one Sri Lankan newsroom during my formative years. For a while macho was what I wanted to be - the hard-knuckled journalist with an ego to boot.

It took me years and a personal tragedy to recalibrate this image. I am glad that I did, even at that late stage.

When I am confronted by the digital bravado, it is not hard to for me to recognise the false sense of bullet-proof persona that many in my tribe want to assume. The small talk on cats and cat videos, when a prison ...