![dealing in despair dealing in despair](https://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/218464-Cartoon-1311777362.jpg)
Friend: You want to know the ingredients of writing a best-selling South Asian novel?
Me: Of course!
Friend: Pick a topic concerning abuse, terrorism, slums, racial divide, fundamentalism or extreme poverty, and make your country sound as horrifying as possible, then wait as thousands of publishers from around the world fight for your novel. Better yet, if you make the conditions of your country sound particularly barbarous, they’ll even buy the movie rights off you, right that second!
Me: But all I want to write about is love!
Friend: Won’t sell. Maybe if you’re writing about falling in love with a terrorist or, wait for it, a blasphemer (that concept’s still new), it just might work!
Me: Maybe I could write about the compassion in this country?
Friend: Boooooorrrring!
Me: The incredible places in Pakistan?
Friend: I’m already asleep.
Me: The amazing people here?
Friend: Have you been listening to a word I said?
As much as I hate to admit this, my friend was absolutely correct. I couldn’t think of a single well-known Pakistani author who had gained mass readership in the last few years by writing something unrelated to the above mentioned topics. If there was love, it was defeated by hate. If there was hope, it drowned in a sea of despair.
Whether it was Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Kamlia Shamsie’s Kartography or Bina Shah’s Slum Child, everyone seems to be capitalising on the ills of our country. This tried and tested formula is sure to attract the attention of the developed world who may find these details of our country shocking and gruesome. However, for you and me — people who witness these grim realities up close on a daily basis – all we can do is revise a cliché and say: ‘been there, seen much worse!’
In times of war, historians have noted that audiences tend to become more inclined towards watching comedies or reading lighter literature. Why wouldn’t they? When the world around you is falling apart, you do not want to be repeatedly reminded of it every time you read a book or watch a movie. People want to laugh and maybe even escape their realities for a brief moment. This is why fantasy literature often becomes the next best option. Even satire and spoofs work well in these times as they help audiences deal with the anger and bitterness they feel at the chaos that surrounds them and the venality of their leaders.
Consider Charlie Chaplin. He would never have become such an acclaimed celebrity if he was too scared to spoof Hitler at a time when the entire continent of Europe quaked with fear at the sound of Nazi jackboots. It wasn’t that he buried his head in the sand and avoided the reality of impending war. Instead, he took that fear and turned it into laughter.
So my question to the Pakistani authors of our time is, why can’t you do that? Is it really necessary to torture us with our daily darkness?
Books aside, even electronic media covers absolutely everything under the sun that shows Pakistan in a negative light and covers up the amoebic portion of good still surviving in this country.
“Press’ vans rush to those places where a bomb explodes even before the ambulances arrive. Cameramen callously scour the place for any bodies, bloody limbs, charred ID cards or screaming kids that they can film. The gorier the coverage, the better!
Of course, any compassionate or brave men who assisted the ambulances or helped the victims are not worth filming. Better yet, they’ll ask these men to step aside, so they can get a shot of the man who is still breathing despite the fact that his entire skull is showing through his head. God forbid, they should rush the poor man to the hospital and lose out on the money shot.
It’s not just Pakistani journalists who drop their ethics and morality when they pick up a pen or camera. The paparazzi’s desperate desire for a Princess Diana picture with Dodi Fayed contributed to her death in August 1997. The News of the World is believed to have been responsible for 4,000 phone hacking attacks not limited to just Hollywood celebrities or cricketers, they even allegedly hacked the phones of the parents of two murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Worse, they hacked the phone of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, even erasing messages when the mailbox got full, leading police to believe the girl was still alive. Families of British soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were fair game as well, as were the relatives of those who had died in the 7/7 bombings. No one was off limits for this publication —– not even dead people!
It’s times like these when these writers and journalists remind me of the South African photo journalist Kevin Carter. For anyone who doesn’t know the Carter legacy, he won a Pulitzer prize for taking a picture of a severely emaciated Sudanese toddler, on the brink of death from starvation, crying as a vulture landed near it — the vulture almost seconds away from gorging on the little one.
While most people raved about the picture, St Petersburg Times rightly noted about Carter: “The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene.”
However, thirty-three-year-old Kevin Carter, after suffering from severe depression, committed suicide from carbon monoxide poisoning. Ironically, it was exactly a year after his picture became infamous.
At least, Kevin Carter had a conscience and felt guilty about what he did, even if it was too late. I doubt if any of our journalists feel the slightest bit of remorse for constantly showcasing the devastation in this country.
Their response to my question will always be the same. “We are raising awareness about the critical issues of Pakistan.” Well, guess what? We know our issues! We know there are thousands of bodies lying around on any given day at masjids, dargahs and shopping centres. The entire world knows our issues!
Instead of doing something about it, do you have to put our issues on a tray and display it to the entire world, while you make tons of money along the way for someone else’s suffering?
I ache for the day someone will write on the beauty, compassion and love in this country, and still make it big. I look forward to the day Pakistani authors will make the world laugh. I’m hoping I’ll be that writer. But the question is, will you be interested in reading what I write?
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, July 31st, 2011.
COMMENTS (10)
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@amna: it wasn't that Kartography was brutal,...My question is... was the love story between the two characters in the book really so spectacular if we took out the ethnic divide/conflicts between the Bengali and Pakistani people that was put in there to spice it up
@ Rizwan Ali. Actually, I did know four out of those five facts you mentioned... didn't know about the Cambrian Scouts, but now that I do...makes me proud :)
Anyway, I'm not defending the state of the Pakistani media today. (I already acknowledged that they can act like exploitative vultures... change is needed, yes.) I'm saying I have a problem with the proposed alternative in this article.
I'm saying BOTH types of articles and news stories need to be published (negative and positive), without worrying about what type of image they will project, and only because they are true. If brutality occurs, don't try to water it down to make it more palatable to the public, or better for the country's image. Don't shy away from it. If something good happens, by all means, report that too.
@Amna: As a media viewer, do you know these facts about Pakistan happening over last few years supposedly the worse in the history. 1. Pakistan became the largest branded socks manufacturer in the world executing production order of Nike, Puma, GO, Adidas and other major brands. 2. Pakistan Army's team won the world's toughest military team exercise Cambrian Scouts. 3. A Pakistani mountaineer hoisted the national flag on Mount Everest. 4. Pakistan formally offered it warm waters for trade to Russia. 5. Pakistan had the highest wheat production in its history in the year prior to floods.
However few jewels of journalism count, Asma Jahangir reporting Mukhtaran Mai,s incident in The Times when the magazine launched articles mentioning decade's achievements of Asian countries. Bangladesh reported bumper rice crop production and export, India mentioned its silicon.
Media reporters very efficiently aired torn dresses of girls during Islamic University blast.
A famous anchor reported army killing Pakistanis instead of miscreants in Swat and kept declaring the operation a fake.
Pakistan's media was established and flourished with intent of countering foreign media and managing masses thoughts to be constructive. It never happened.
@ Rufus. And Kartography was brutal? :S
I'm not saying comic relief is a waste of time. God knows we all need it. But you can't undermine the importance of reporting the serious issues we face.
As far as the blogosphere goes, projecting negative or positive 'impressions' might be ok. I'm saying if you want to be a serious journalist, you shouldn't set out with a goal in that regard...about what you want to project. That only makes you biased.
@Amna: Report the brutality but don't report with brutality, that's what she means! I guess you never read it properly
Sure, the press often acts like a bunch of vultures, and yes, some journalists will do anything for a story. But this articles is beyond preposterous.
"Well, guess what? We know our issues!" Because of course, issues never change, and another suicide bomb is not worth reporting because it will give such a negative view of Pakistan. Right? Why even acknowledge the casualties?... What a load of crap!
So the solution is to NOT talk about the problems Pakistan has, and provide comic relief? Or better yet, push your own opinion into the picture, or focus only on the positive, ignoring all the negatives. Wow. A writer who does is exactly the same as a writer who runs after a 'juicy', horrifying story.
I can't believe somebody actually wants to peddle this as proper journalism. Journalism is supposed to be about reporting the TRUTH, not about pushing a view across. It's supposed to be OBJECTIVE.
But by all means, go and bury your head in the sand. That's healthy.
This isn't a Sir, she seems to be a lady. An articulate, well-read one, at that! I'm open to reading your stuff :)
I used to be a healthy and knowledge hungry man who used to read every word of every article in the papers and listen to the words of wisdom and patriotism spoken by media anchors. With inflow of information increasing with the freedom of media in Pakistan, i developed migraine and anxiety problems. CT scans and neuro medicines none could diagnose or cure my problems. I found my cure when i had to travel to remote locations for job specific reasons and flow of information got a break. Now i am again a healthy and settled man. I have restricted flow of information. I am a common Pakistani. Journalism! please have mercy on me.
Sure, I salute for being pessimistic and giving bright hopes to others!! I'll surely reading stuff, you'll writing!!
Everything thats wrong with journalism today outlined in the best possible way! I will read everything you write, I have already read everything you have written already!