Internet sensation Ahmed Shah's treatment by showbiz industry reeks of exploitation

Talk shows hosts may be the more recognisable enablers but we can't ignore our role in this fiasco


Zeeshan Ahmad June 14, 2019

KARACHI: There is something about child stars that is deeply unsettling to begin with when contemplated upon. As it stands, the entire industry reeks of exploitation and sometimes, outright abuse. In its ruins lie the sordid fates of hundreds of once upon a time celebrities so beloved as children.

Yet somehow, the case viral child sensation Ahmed Shah appears considerably more troubling. The more one looks at his treatment in our media, the more one wonders: “has everyone gone batshit insane?”

The likes of Nida Yasir, Yasir Nawaz, Hareem Shah, Waseem Badami and Fahad Mustafa may be some of the more recognisable enablers in this exploitation, but we as a society cannot brush our own role under the carpet.

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For starters, there is the fact that, my utmost sympathies with Shah, he is not popular in our public conscience for any talent or ability of his. He is not a precocious child prodigy, no offense. His fame rests not on any accomplishment, which is fine – like most of us once, he is just a simple child.

What is disturbing, then, is that in the absence of any ability to set him apart from the regular child like you and me, he is a punching bag. He is a butt of jokes, as much as we convince ourselves that is not true. “He is so endearing,” we will all tell ourselves, “and that is what we like about Ahmed Shah.” But let us not kid ourselves. To us, to all of us, he is simply a joke that ought to be in bad taste. And that is not his fault is it?

This is no indictment against Shah, let me clarify. How could it be? This is an indictment against us for our part in allowing media to exploit a child too young to even understand what is going on. In any conscientious society, this treatment of his would cross so many red lines already.

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There is of course the ethnic component. We find him hilarious simply because he acts presumably like the men in his hometown. That is what we find funny really, the men in his hometown. Why? Because they feed and reinforce our stereotypes of Pashtun men and culture. As Pakistanis, we do love a good stereotype.

The only consolation for Pashtuns, if any, is that they are not alone in being at the receiving end of stereotypical jokes. I wonder if we as a nation will ever realise that this tendency to rob those we see as different from ourselves of dignity is the root to so many deep-seated issues we have faced and continue facing.

There is also a classist tinge to Shah’s treatment in media and public conscious as well. To begin with, I wonder if he would be exploited all the same if he belonged to the family of someone more influential. But beyond that, his mannerisms seem to us ‘funny’ because we, in a way, see them as blue-collar.

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His bluntness, his loudness, his assertiveness, all these are traits many among us associate with ‘impoliteness’.  We, our elite in particular, eulogise and lionise Qandeel Baloch now that she is dead, but I doubt many realise how complicit we were in the tragedy of her life. Must it take a tragedy in Shah’s case as well?

Social problematicising aside, we need to acknowledge and condemn Shah’s treatment for what it is: child abuse and exploitation, plain and simple. Justifying ourselves by pointing to our feelings of endearment for him is no excuse.

From the first video, where a teacher teases Shah for her and others amusement, to Nida Yasir’s show where she herds him and other children around like carnival attractions, Shah’s treatment throughout this circus needs to be called out and condemned.

Let us all, at the very least, restore some modicum of dignity to a little kid too young to know what is going on.

Zeeshan Ahmad is an Express Tribune staffer. He tweets at @Zeeesh3.

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COMMENTS (3)

Shakeel Mahota | 4 years ago | Reply Is this treatment with Ahmed Shah different from the humor created in our leading late night TV shows by body shaming the participants..??
Simple Enough | 4 years ago | Reply Bro, Can you please use some easier and comprehend-able vocab that doesn't require frequent look-ups?
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