Rohail Hyatt issues one last clarification about what he means by 'liberal'

Ever since Rohail Hyatt revealed he will not be producing Coke Studio (CS), he has been notably spending a lot of his time of Twitter. And so, the founding member of Vital Signs has been in the crosshairs for commenting on various socio-political matters since becoming an avid tweep.

Earlier, Hyatt and singer-turned-politician Jawad Ahmad locked horns on the micro-blogging site after the prior claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan's comments on the rise in sexual violence in the country had been misconstrued. Following this, the maestro's tongue-in-cheek take on the ‘liberals’ opposing his arguments left many confused and some, disappointed. "Never thought I'd get the chance to say this, I live in the Islamic Republic of Liberals!" Hyatt had argued.

In response, Jami lamented, "You lost me, boss, you were my King all this time." But the filmmaker wasn’t the only one. Hyatt’s mindless support for PM Khan was reason enough for many to give up on a childhood hero they once idealised.

Thus, taking to his favourite social media platform once again, Hyatt has provided his final take on the term ‘liberal’ for those who are still wondering how a popular liberal like himself could make a mockery of his own.

“Ever since my tweets about liberals, I’ve been asked by a lot of people to provide clarity. Obviously, family and friends who know me, know that I’m 'liberal' in my viewpoint so they are curious about why I might oppose the idea,” Hyatt wrote. “I’m posting this clarification one last time so that I don’t have to respond to everyone again and again,” he added.

The Aitebar hit maker then provided the literal definition of the term. “The word liberalism means: ‘willingness to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; openness to new ideas’,” noted Hyatt. He then asserted that one either practices this point of view or doesn’t, but either case makes no difference to him. “But by calling oneself liberal and then behaving the exact opposite to it gives the word the wrong meaning. That’s what I observe on Twitter.”

Hyatt slammed pseudo-liberals for having “zero tolerance” towards any opinion other than their own, which contradicts the very ideology of liberalism. “While real liberals – just to distance themselves from this wrong version of liberalism – are left to coin terms like 'centrist' or 'neutral' to define themselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, the artist explained how that is precisely what “extreme right-groups” have done with religion, because of which, calling oneself religious is now misconstrued and equated to being an extremist, or someone with ‘radical tendencies’. The former Vital Signs founding member concluded, “So from a 'true liberal' perspective, everyone has a right to be who they are and express themselves as they like, even the extremists. But a few shouldn't hijack the terms that the majority of us need to use for ourselves – especially when they’re not going to practice what these terms really mean.”

Hyatt also clarified that although he does not appreciate the need for labels since he considers them to be divisive. In a world that lacks the depth to understand without categorisation, associating oneself with a label one best identifies with is better than being labelled. “I hope this helps clear any confusion. Peace!”However, it is pertinent to mention here that Hyatt’s recent comments aren’t the only comments to have attracted the ire of Twitter previously.

Prior to this year’s Aurat March, while responding to a user who narrated how being cat-calling left her traumatised, Hyatt suggested that women need to have stronger nerves to endure such behaviour. The two then had a Twitter exchange which garnered divisive responses. Provided that the cat call was a prank, the music maestro had added, "Of course it’s natural to react but once one realises it was a prank, it’s important to quickly channel the fear out of the system. Laughter is often the best remedy."

A female user then schooled him saying, “Harassment is unacceptable, prank or not…disappointed in your response Rohail sahab."

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