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Perils of blind patriotism
Let George and Fasi rant — at least they make us think. I’d rather take rude, shocking essays over pats on the back.
The writer works for the Jinnah Institute, a public-policy think-tank based in Islamabad. [email protected]
Patriotism is a powerful sentiment. But not when its logical outcome is a myopia that allows us the intellectual and moral space to ignore depravity in our midst. In the aftermath of the Sialkot lynching, powerful and evocative pieces were written by Fasi Zaka and George Fulton questioning the current state of our moral and social fabric. Given the recent spate of condemnable events in Pakistan such as the inhuman episode of vigilante justice, brutal killings of minorities and the subsequent silence of large segments of society, they wrote pieces designed to shock our sensibilities in the hopes of creating much needed national soul-searching.
What they got instead was the label of cynical, unpatriotic and most damningly, the pasting of scarlet letters that spell ‘western liberal’ on to their writings. Deconstructing evil is a mark of civilisation, and those who refute self-criticism in the face of man-made tragedy are complicit in the worst kind of self-congratulating nationalism. Cynicism might evoke tedium, but rubbishing critical reviews of moral slide is more damaging than the discomfort provoked by the two.
One response to their articles refuted the point they were making by pointing to the fact that we are no better or worse than other parts of humanity — Rwandans committed genocide and Israeli’s regularly throw grenades at boys armed with stones. Genocide and forced occupation are hardly a standard to set for inhumanity, much less cite as justifications for ignoring the rot in our society. Does the barbarity of others justify the atrocities in our backyard? These champions of misplaced Pakistani pride are implicitly urging us to drop moral standards to an even lower common denominator of human decency than we currently tolerate. That is hardly a place we should aspire to be.
After pointing out that we are not alone in the world in our brutality; a laundry-list of our selflessness, hospitality and charitable impulses is trotted out to block out the existence of violence and bigotry in our midst. There is no doubt that Pakistanis are resilient and generous people. The selfless and untiring contributions of citizens to relief activities in the face of national disasters are not only commendable but inspirational. So let’s pat ourselves on the back for that, but then what? Living in a state of delusional self-congratulation is hardly the way to rid our society of perilous ills such as bigotry, intolerance and extremism. Ridding ourselves of those requires people like Fasi and George pointing out our faults so that we can work on fixing them.
But no, once the unthinking patriots are done listing our virtues, they end with pigeon-holing all self -critical voices as “liberals”. I can only hope they understand that the demonisation of liberalism is a further invitation to one of its many alternatives so ubiquitous already: orthodoxy. Didn’t we get enough of that during the Zia years and are we still not reeling from the consequences of that ultra- rightist, downright extremist regime?
So dear Mahreen Aziz Khan, don’t take the focus away from much needed introspection for the sake of scoring popularity points. Let George and Fasi rant — at least they make us think. You make us feel good but do little to help us achieve even an iota of betterment in society. You condemn “liberals” but fail to provide viable alternatives. I, personally, am not ready for the opposite. Political labels like conservative and liberal may mean very different things in civilised societies. In countries where the slide from conservative to dogmatic to extremist has spawned many faces of orthodoxy, I am still rooting for self-criticism. I’d rather take rude and shocking essays that induce much-needed introspection in the hope of generating solutions, instead of you patting us on the back, telling us it’s ok to continue with the status quo. Our collective aversion to criticism prevents us from taking serious stock of our national condition and working to fix it. So please stop feeding this dangerous aversion and let the process of public criticism and introspection begin – only from sustained national introspection will solutions for a better Pakistan emerge.
Published in The Express Tribune September 4th, 2010.
Reader Comments (64)
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Mahreen’s article was not a pat on the back. It was pointing out that gross generalisations are inaccurate racist and unhelpful.
An immature article – Sehar you seem to be point scoring.Recommend
Another wannabe trying to ride on the back of this debate – we have had enough of the rebuttals to rebuttals.Recommend
So call yourself a cockroach all you want. Move on – a boring attempt to jump onto the bandwagon.Recommend
Lightweight arguments. Missed the point. George and Fassi looking weaker with such feeble support for their “rants”.Recommend
I dont think anyone was justifying Sialkot or any of the bad stuff that happens in Pakistan. But branding a whole country with one brush was the point made by Talat and Mehreen.
Let’s be mature about it and move on to more important issues.Recommend
Sehar – calling ourselves cockroaches is introspection? I knew standards were low in education but what kind of a think tank supports such kindergarten polemics!Recommend
Calling a nation “degenerate” and “cockroaches” is constructive?
Weak analysis. Move on – we are tired of this topic.Recommend
I disagree with you totally. You misread and misunderstood the articles criticizing the cockroach approach.Recommend
See Amina Jilani’s piece above – she has encapsulated the debate in one para beautifully. Sehar yo have a lot to learn from the veterans! An amateur piece from you. Recommend
Pointing to others faults as a justifications for own doing is what our own specialise in.
Miss Mehreen is far too limited in her approach to provide an introspect.
Your article is correct in pointing out that Fasi and Fulton made us think.
We need to do a lot of thinking.Recommend
Wow! Mahreen, the number of responses your article received just underlines the level success you scored. Media had always been domain of liberal elite. The entry of a moderate force in the army of ultra liberals is becoming hard to bear.
Now coming to the topic, nowhere has mahreen suggested that we should overlook our weaknesses. Her message was not to generalize Pakistanis on the base of barbaric incidents that take place in all societies, that are not specific to Pakistan.
We acknowledge that Pakistan is beset with grave problems. But our line of action should be to make effort to solve the problems instead of adopting a never-ending complaining attitude.Recommend
@Author: I agree – i totally agree! I had never been a big champion of debating on social injustice and political, moral, ethical issues which inegulf us today more than ever before until very recently. The eyeopener for a person like me who had somewhat found a safe heaven around him (luckily not been ever stung by the system), was the Sialkot incident. It just shook me, deep down for the first time i felt disgusted, ashamed, humiliated and started thinking of myself as part of the MOB. Articles written by Fasi and Georg are nothing less than a bitter truth … this is something we dont want to listen for decades now but shoving the dirt under the carper doesnt solve the problem. If we dont treat this cancer (degradation of our social values) now, it will be too late. And articles like this serve as the chemo and radio therapies (the only early stage cure), otherwise we will end up amutating the body parts (dividing our country). I might have used a lot of metaphors but that the best i could come up with to relate. I am pro facing the reality and its high time we all realise our weaknesses, this identification is always the first step towards making resolutions to cure.Recommend
@Mustafa – toatlly agree with you! Mahreen is being attacked viciously by “the liberal lynch mob.” They have shown their intolerance as soon as their arguments are questioned, nay, challenged. Never ending whining, self-hatred etc is just useless. Quite right.Recommend
@Mustafa – you summed it up brilliantly.
Now let’s move on folks. The Tribune has milked this one enough by allowing another weak article in addition to the two rebuttals. Recommend
Introspection needs a different mindset. We lost half the country but learnt nothing from it; we still think that ethnic voilence is just a conspiracy. Majority thinks that Baloch insurgency is just because of indian consulates in afghanistan. This state of denial only induces a feel good factor in the short term. Sialkot incident is just a tip of the iceberg, 3-4 similar incidents have already taken place in past 2 weeks but very pretictably there is no protest.Recommend
Quite right. The only problem is will the rulers of our country, past and present, reflect on their actions, maybe, before going to bed! This particular bunch of people, seems as if they are disassociated with the rest of us, Pakistani people. You and I are ready to do anything for our country but are they? They(the rulers) are ready to do anything for themselves first and Pakistan second!!!Recommend
Good point..hope ‘they’ read.Recommend
@Mustafa: Totally agree with you. Wish these whiners like Sehar would stop and do something worthwhile instead.Recommend
Reading this column was a waste of time. Standards are really falling here – why is this stuff being printed?Recommend
The title doesn’t even make sense. If it’s “blind” then of course it would be perilous. Tautology! Pathetic attempt to piggy back off a debate between some genuinely talented writers. Recommend
i completely agree with sehar. unfortunately people are too touchy. we’ll never improve when the majority refuses to admit there is a problem. for example, having servants. to us desis, its normal. if you look at it from an outsider, you’d realize how sick and perverse it is that our society functions this way. if we keep living like this, taking for granted that we have servants, and this entire class of people stays uneducated, pakistan will always be a nation full of miserable people. but the people who have servants can’t even begin to comprehend that there is a problem. for them it’s a way of life, it’s something to be proud of.
i only wish more people like sehar, fasi, and george would speak up. no one likes to be shown a mirror, but it has to be done. Recommend
I’m so disappointed with the Tribune’s quality of articles these days..I mean who cares about what this author has wrote??!?!! People have the right to write whatever they want and people have the right to criticize whatever they want..this is part of every single society!! To see an article on this notion is for lack of a better word just sad!!
Come on Tribune!! Please don’t lower yourself to the standards of Jang and the Daily Mail.Recommend
@Mustafa – totally agree with you. Mehreen condemned Sialkot and emphasised action rather than whining and screaming hate. We need more people to forge this path instead of the endless self righteous rants.Recommend
@Mustafa – you got it Bro! Totally sums it up. Recommend
Not very interesting anymore – havent we had enough of the rebuttals from George and Fassi? Sequels are always a let down. This one is rather mediocre.Recommend
@Mustafa – well put. Never ending complaining……and now it seems never ending rebuttals.Recommend
@Sahal – totally disagree. Thinking alone gets you nowhere especially if it just means calling other people names and feeling holier than thou.
Keep things in perspective and get on with what needs to be done.
@Mustafa – well said.Recommend
Excellent article sehar.The perpetually in denial brigade obviously didn’t like it.They would like to delude themselves into thinking that our society is perfect,that we by default are superior to other religions,self examination & critical thinking is anathema to such ppl.
Mahreen was pandering to this same segment of society,where the blame for all one’s ills lies squarely on others,while we can do no wrong,No, all the evil must be the work of foreign,evil forces of other religions.Recommend
Now this debate is getting boring.. how many articles are more to come on this issue!! Fasi meant this, Mehreen wrote this, George said that, Talat thinks…. Cant we move on to another subject?Recommend
Great article! Finally something sane and balanced! Thankyou for writing this.Recommend
Absolutely brilliant and articulate…!The critical thinkers are always in monority..! Recommend
Brilliant piece!
And I can understand why the majority is not supporting your or Fasi’s viewpoint: “Sb kuch Allah pay chorrh do!” from Shehzad Roy’s video! I do not know when would this “nation” come out of narcism and would bother to look at her faults. Congratulations, Sehar for such a bold attempt in this “suffocated”, blind and dumb society!Recommend
Pedestrian attempt – Recommend
Ok, Talat and Mehreen did make some mistakes during their articles like western liberal thing and KKK stuff but all the supporters of Fasi and Fulton forgets that the main aim of their articles were to point out the gross generalization their fellow writers made. One went on to call a nation ‘cockroaches’ and other compared the current situtation with ‘cinema industry’ and ‘partition history’ not to mention Fulton is a British and it was British who left sub-continent in all that turmoil thanks to Sir Red Cliff doings reslting in BIGGEST migration in the history of human race and everyone knows what happened during that time…..Recommend
Sehar we Pakistani’s (with notable exceptions) don’t like to be criticized, even if it is positive, so as a result we don’t improve and carry on with our broken down ways. Liked your article.Recommend
Sorry Sehar but its a very immature argument – and you’re flogging a dead horse.
Doubly disappointing therefore.Recommend
CAN WE JUST MOVE ON? This column was a waste of space. @Sehr Zaidi – well said! Pedestrian and immature.Recommend
Sehar – people have the right to express their opinion. Dont accuse them of having bad intentions in doing so. Compare your article to Ms Amina Jilan’s and you’ll see what quality writing is all about.Recommend
Great article! and these comments just reinforce what you are trying to say in this entire piece. People in this country will never want to hear the truth and that has been the case since its inception, there is a reason why we are at this stage today and that has a lot to do with our incapacity for retrospection. Good job sehar! There are MANY who agree with what you have said and while I wont be coming back to this board to read any replies, I will be to read your article! Recommend
Articulate, well written and insightful. Mehreen, after two weeks got about 1600 face book shares compared with the over 9000 of Fasi Zaka. But she didn’t initiate this debate. The genius behind the introspection we now are engaging in is because of the ‘liberal’(sic) duet!
I agree with you, but let me add one more observation. Why has mehreen never criticzed her former boss Short-Cut(sic) Aziz? My take on it is that she was riding the wave of popularity all along.Recommend
I am absolutely baffled at the comments. It was a great article yet the supporters of Mehreen and co would never admit it. Is it because they have already taken side and would not dare entertain anything which cause a shift in their way of thinking? The intolerance in our so called educated class is also bewildering. Many of you have protested to be sick of this debate but it is quite telling of the socitey and nation that Pakistan is. Once again Sehar an absolutely brilliant article please do not listen to Mehreen and co supporters they obviously have some kind of agenda where they are bullying us to their way of thinking.Recommend
NO, NO, let’s not move on until we’ve addressed these problems. Let’s not continue this attitude of denial and ignoring issues.Recommend
So what solution has THIS article produced? How will this article benefit the Pakistani nation?Recommend
@ Aliya
Pakistan faces plethora of problems.
Acknowledged! Acknowledged! Acknowledged!
Satisfied?
Now can you people move on and propose solutions followed by taking practical steps to help Pakistan get rid of those problems?
No, you people will find another issue tomorrow and use your intellectual powers to bash Pakistanis again. This trend will go on with no end in sight.
Just wonder when this bash Pakistan approach will end and uplift Pakistan approach will begin!Recommend
I agree with the Author, especially the punch-line “Our collective aversion to criticism prevents us from taking serious stock of our national condition and working to fix it”. Great article! Recommend
Talk talk talk thats all that we can do….. if we cant change it who else will??? God help those who help themselvesRecommend
Our biggest problem is right here before the whole world to see: DENIAL
And articles like these are Dettol on our wounds, hence the cries.
Sehar, yours was a very balanced article. And if it has charged up your target audience, God is definitely on your side.Recommend
actually like i said before, im pakistani and proud of it! the only ones that should feel ashamed are the ones doing crime. what about the people protesting are they cockroaches, what about the victims parents are they cockroaches. dont criticise on pakistan on a whole dats just wrongRecommend
great article sehar
best to ignore some of the comments you have received. These are the orthodox minority who love the “concept” of patriotism.
I think geroge and zaka wrote splendid articles. Both are very virtuoso writers who have had the courage to denounce a nation which also includes themselves
My point to mehreen and the others is, why is everyone being so politically correct? when zaka calls us cockraoches he is not referring to 160 million people.
when we say this is a bad world, or america is wrong in the iraq war, we are not denouncing 6.8 billion people and 800 million people, respectively,
it is quite intellecutually suffocating to find, some writers defending us on trivial issues, of how many people are actually cockraoches.
What difference does it make?
when most of the country is quiet while misogynist elements taint the society, while the minority groups are persecuted, when orthodox thinking is sweeping our culture, then we do become the nation of cockroaches,
and those who feel they are doing their part, and their inflated ego is insulted, they should assume the title is not for them. Recommend
like it! We Pakistani’s love to sugarcoate every fact and come up with the explaination (excuses) for everything.
Its about time facts are seen as facts! Then only we can move forward.Recommend
Sehar – your article is unoriginal. It wont change or impress anyone. You missed the point of the debate completely. No one is defending Pakistan’s ills – the point is that using abuse and self hate wont solve anything. Agree with @Mustafa.Recommend
just shoo away cockroach and cry somewhere else. we dont deny the problems we want to find solutions for them not belittle ourselves.Recommend
Well said Sehar, I truly enjoyed reading your article…this is the way to go…keep up the good work and bring up more socioeconomic and political issues that are worth debatable. -:)Recommend
Grade for ST: F for Effort, D- for integrity, A+ for wallowing in George and Fasi’s mudbathRecommend
@Betty boop your comment was cut down due to several ad hominem attacks within it and threats to violence. Regards (Web Editor)Recommend
@Sehr Zaidi – what kind of personal vendetta do you have against this author? Shame on you for getting so personal as to comment on her looks. You seem like the worst kind of cockroach to me!!!Recommend
@Booger: how’d you manage to measure the writer’s integrity?Recommend
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Atika, I have read your rules and my post did not transgress any of them. Your knee-jerk censorship is only understandable if you guys are trying to re-create KGS or CJM fairyland here. Clue in !Recommend
@Betty Boop: I agree with you. I have noticed a few comments “disappearing” including one by Sehar Zaidi which did not transgress the rules.
Sehar Tariq: by all means call yourself a cockroach if you think that equals introspection!!! Let the rest of us do the real thinking and the work. God help us if this article is the work of a “think tank”!! More like a “think sink”!Recommend
@feryal: “think sink”? I have no words.Recommend
It would be instructive to know whether the views expressed by ST are those actively promoted by the Jinnah Institute, or hers personally. Also, it would be instructive to know who funds this organization. Recommend
As an Indian I empathize with the grief and sadness shown by most Pakistanis on these blogs. However, this piece has to be the worst one I’ve read. Not only is it written in a detached manner, but it shows no appreciation for the thousands who are no doubt working hard to improve things. Unfortunately this pontificating detached manner is prevalent at most think tanks, and therefore the resulting argument is usually pointless, as is the case here. Pakistan has many reasons to be proud, but Sehar Tariq is not one of them.Recommend
Sweta: You’re right, but we have to give equal airtime to every viewpoint no matter how ill-conceived or badly argued. We’ve been told that this is for our good in a tolerant pluralistic democratic setup. The articles here are meant to rile up the chattering class, and I suppose any chatter is better than none. We seem to believe that out of sweet nothings will somehow come the savior for our ills. That’s why we need to put up with these professional obfuscaters from think tanks, because supposedly they are the only ones who can perceive and speak the hidden truths. They are our sensitive introspective crew, and we would be lost without their insights. No matter that their perspective might be slightly distorted, watching Sex and the City reruns by day, and churning out heartfelt op-eds by night.Recommend