Showing posts with label heroes of Pakistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heroes of Pakistan. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 February 2019

Disappearances - of Social Media Reactivists?

Before the recent elections, the country seemed to have built a strong understanding of the system and politics. At least they expressed how they felt about certain characters in the political arena. However, the entire show is put to an end somehow and political observations have restricted themselves to the minds of a few.
It seems a little strange, seeing all the political reactivism on the social media sites settling down, almost like weightless dust particles that float everywhere only when stirred or disturbed. Such social media reactivism has taken all by storm before elections. Most of the reactivists defended this phenomena of quick reaction by calling it political awareness and social media activism, and convincingly attributed it to one of the major political actors in the view right now. However, the major actor probably could not inspire people for a long time and right after the first few months of constant defense, there has been a drastic decrease in the expression of "political opinions" floating in the news feed, comments and/or replies on different platforms. The reactivists do not showcase any particular trait of activism anyways, but things have gotten worse. The reaction, too, has reduced to a few and that too has become an occasional thing. They react to the content that is different than what they would have endorsed (if the were active).
Gone are the days when these political reactivists would send inbox messages to people of the "other opinion" to satisfy the little pseudo-patriot in their hearts. Back then the thirst was great and the need to quench their thirst even greater. There have been events where if one would ignore these inbox messages, he/she would receive threatening messages and abusive content, reason would be their least or no reaction to these politically aware people so vested in the thoughts and worries of their country's future.
Another observation is that a difference of opinion in real life, is still a trigger to these people. And irrespective of how much is it supported by data and numbers, if it is different than what they once endorsed they would defend it to their worst. But on social media, people have learnt to be as insensitive as they had been all this while. And since they were devoted practitioners of cyber-bully and are well-aware of the trauma and pain of being cyber-bullied by masses, they don't want to take any risks online.
The question is if these social media reactivist are still around, and they still react once or twice to a thing or two, where are they most of the time? Some people argue that the accounts have been hacked by anti-state elements and every once in a while, when they are recovered, we stumble upon a reactive tweet, post or comment, but the anti-state elements seem to be after these accounts, hence no reaction most of the time.
A popular theory, however, is that these people have lost interest in the political game as there is no "entertainment" left to inspire them to be reactive.
Another theory, not very convincing though, is that humans tend to go in their metaphoric cocoons when they realize they have a role in messing things up, because most of the time confessing our idiocy and accepting that we have been fooled for long is a bitter sip we can't gulp down. Hence we hide the glass of regrets in a closet, and hide ourselves with it.
The truth, however, is yet to be discovered. And this piece of trigger is only an attempt to find old pals.

Monday, 3 July 2017

میرا جواب

پہاڑوں سے نکل کہ هم جب منظر میں آتا ہے
تو برحق ڈٹنے والے هم مشعل و ملالہ ہے
یہ تو تم مانتے ہو کہ یہاں قانونیت کم ہے
ہمیں سوتیلوں کی طرح پھر کیوں جهٹلاتا 
ہے؟

سمگلر پر بهی ہنستا ہے چرواہے پر بهی ہنستا ہے
مجهے ایسا کیوں لگتا ہے تو بس مجه پر ہی ہنستا ہے؟
تمهارے "سا را گا ما پا دا" کا ہم ریاض کرتا ہے
مرے سنگیت پر تالہ ہے، لیکن پهر بهی گاتا ہے
کبهی 'اتڼ'، کبهی رباب ہم سے چهینے گئے هیں
مگر ہم پهر بهی ہر اک ساز اور ہر سر میں گاتا 
ہے

ترا یه میل دل اور زنگی سوچ سے بدبو آتا ہے
مانا تم دن میں تین چار بار پانی سے نہاتا ہے
صفائی کا ذرا گر ہو سکے تو سبق دے ہی دو
کہ ہم پہ ہنس کہ کیسے ہاته تم صاف کراتا 
ہے

مذاق وه تها گر، تو یہ بهی ہے. ناراض کیوں ہوتی ہے؟
گرتا ہے شہسوار وہی جو ایسے جنگ لڑتی ہے
  
(میرا جواب)
 - کائنات حميد خان

 


Recently a poet tried to create comedy by humiliating Pashtuns in one of the Eid Transmissions on PTV, Pakistan's national TV channel. The poet makes fun of the bombs blasts in Pashtun areas of the country and receives a round of applause when he mocks the lack of law and order in the these areas on behalf of the state. He also found this amusing that some Pashtuns smell like sheep, and ridicules them by saying that they take a bath once a year. He also laughs at Pashto music saying that all Pashto songs are composed in one tone. And they don't have a sense for music. While reading those verses, the poet also used a specific tone and made deliberate grammatical mistakes, stereotyping the "Pashtun accent"of Urdu. Different people are reacting to it in different ways. Many activists in the Pashtun community demand an apology from the Poet and the national TV channel. The above poem is my answer to those controversial verses.

Top Ten 'Three Ways To Pakistan'

A few days ago, I had a random discussion with a bunch of students in university. I told them about my blog and my research on "Three Ways of How To" in national context. They agreed to answer my questions. I wanted to share the experience. Following are responses of the respondents.

Three jokes a Pakistani will forward happily

  • Jokes about Pashtuns and Sardars
  • Jokes about Politicians
  • Jokes about Teachers


Three ways to earn a name (good or bad)

  • Talk for/against the clerics
  • Talk for/against establishment
  • Talk against politicians


Three ways to die a natural death
  • Eat healthy
  • Drink healthy
  • Avoid going to public places like Markets, Schools, Universities and Hospitals etc


Three reasons you can expect love

  • Belong to Middle East
  • Shoot a bunch of kids and blame somebody for buying you the gun

and recently discovered

  • "Be a Pakistani" 


Three ways you can tell the truth

  • Whisper it to yourself
  • Tell it to someone who does't understand the language
  • Tell it to a tree


Three ways to use freedom of speech

  • Say what they want to hear
  • Never speak against them
  • Don't speak a lot.


Three ways to get away with a murder

  • Call the dead a sinner
  • Blame the neighbors
  • Fly to Thailand


Three ways to die a hero and leave a legend
  • Kill the person you are paid to guard
  • Claim something or blame someone
  • Fly with a crate of mangoes in the luggage.


Three ways to call an Afghan in Pakistan

  • Respectable brothers just like our owns, living abroad? No. Muhajir
  • Harmless people facing phobias by other communities they live with, just like us? No. Mushtaba Afrad
  • A larger community that is expected to apologize and compensate  for something offensive that a minority among them is known to be standing for? No. Kala ba zay.


Three ways to survive after messing up with the flow

  • -
  • -
  • -
(They said they'll think of a way)


They promised to meet me on the same spot the next day but no one showed up. I suspect they lie.