Lies and statistics

We are told in a survey that is now being proudly reproduced on our mainstream media that Pakistan has been ranked as one of the least racist countries in the world. This comes from a report in the Washington Post, an otherwise respected daily. The data itself is tabulated from the World Values Survey, which is compiled by two Swedish economists.

In the findings, it is implied that Pakistan was among the more racially tolerant countries. This comes as news to many in Pakistan, given how inherently racist we are as a nation. Our attitudes and the language we use, and which the clueless Swedish economists had no access to, will tell a different tale.

The report says the surveyors asked respondents in more than 80 different countries to identify the sort of people they would not wish to have as neighbours. Some replied, “People of a different race.”

It was concluded that this question could serve as an accurate indicator of racial tolerance in different countries. Merely 6.5 per cent of Pakistani survey respondents objected to having a neighbour of a different race. And that was the basis of the findings.

The data showed that Anglo and Latin American countries were the most tolerant in the world. Respondents were the most receptive to having racially diverse neighbours in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

But there is more for us to be joyful about. India, Jordan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong were the least racially tolerant countries, according to the data. Only three countries out of the 81 surveyed had more than 40 per cent respondents saying, they would not like to have a neighbour of a different race. Pakistani’s may be happier knowing that Indian’s have been shown in a poor light.

43.5 per cent Indians, 51.4 per cent Jordanians, 71.8 per cent in Hong Kong and 71.7 per cent of Bangladeshi’s were termed “racially intolerant”.

One can only wonder how such surveys are conducted and how these conclusions are reached. It is one thing to come up with surveys that are politically motivated, as we have seen some so-called research houses work in Pakistan.

But this is not just a Pakistani phenomenon. Look at some of the questionable research houses and think tanks that operate in the US and the kind of data and findings that they come up with. And the less said, the better about them.

Coming back to Pakistan, let us set the record straight. As a nation, most of us actually judge a person by the color of his or her skin. The lighter the better. We are an inherently racist society.

Obviously our Swedish economists did not have time to see some of the appalling advertisements that appear in the matrimonial section of our daily newspapers. Everyone wants a fair maiden, and here we are not talking about her judgment or skills. The more “surq safaid” the more eligible she is.

But we don’t stop here. In our daily lives, look at how we treat people who have a darker tan of skin than most. Look at the poor Makrani who have no chance whatsoever to better themselves as most look at them as inferior beings.

How do we treat the dark-skinned sanitation workers, most of whom started off as members of the scheduled castes and later converted to Christianity, only to discover that it didn’t make any difference. They are still treated as untouchables.

Now look at our media and our advertisements. Rarely do you see anyone with a dark tone of skin trying to sell you anything. The only dark skinned people I remember were the Djinns in the famous serial “Ainak Wala Djinn.”  The girl in the advertisement gets married only when she uses a certain brand of cream.

I can only wonder how people all over the world would react to the racist language we use to describe other communities when we talk amongst ourselves. And yet we are the first to shout racism when a national of some other country does the same to us. So let us face facts and not live in this obviously misplaced belief that we are least racist as a society. Until we don’t face this truth, little will change for us as a nation.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th,  2015.

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