Nobody’s fault but mine
Anyone in doubt should keep their eyes open and observe how we behave as a society — if we are one at all
The first step towards a solution is to acknowledge the problem. This is something which we, as a society, need to seriously realise.
Take for instance our reaction to Declan Walsh’s The New York Times feature that exposed the alleged involvement of Axact, a Pakistani IT company, in a global fake degree scam. Many of us called him a Western agent hell-bent on defaming Pakistan and treated his work using our all-time favourite phrase: foreign conspiracy against Pakistan. Even well-known media personalities — whom I would choose not to name — used the same rhetoric and disregarded the actual work he had done.
It was simply a matter of ‘right versus wrong’, and not ‘who (Walsh) versus whom (a Pakistani company)’, which many of us failed to interpret correctly. The story was investigated by a highly reputable journalist and published in none other than the NYT. But, many still doubted its credibility, setting aside the article’s content under the umbrella of patriotism. And why not? After all it was done by a journalist who was expelled from Pakistan.
The aforesaid example, perhaps, reflects how we behave at the national level but this very ignorance (read denial) to acknowledge the wrong runs deep in our DNA. There are many wrongs in society that we commit frequently but we do not acknowledge them as wrongs. We run past red lights with utter disregard for traffic rules; steal electricity to power our ACs yet blame the government and power producers for load-shedding; litter our roads and streets, at times from moving cars (this also includes school-going children), but complain about the filth around us; jump queues while fighting others who do the same and the list goes on.
Anyone in doubt should keep their eyes open and observe how we behave as a society — if we are one at all. We are concerned about the ‘country’s positive image’ but don’t want to correct our wrongs. The way we have reacted to Walsh’s story as a society is more damaging to the country’s image.
Living in oblivion will not help us nor will this jingoism take us anywhere. We must be clear about what’s wrong regardless of who is blowing the whistle. Unless we acknowledge our wrongs, we can’t provide our children with a society they can call ‘civilised’. Think and decide.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2015.
Take for instance our reaction to Declan Walsh’s The New York Times feature that exposed the alleged involvement of Axact, a Pakistani IT company, in a global fake degree scam. Many of us called him a Western agent hell-bent on defaming Pakistan and treated his work using our all-time favourite phrase: foreign conspiracy against Pakistan. Even well-known media personalities — whom I would choose not to name — used the same rhetoric and disregarded the actual work he had done.
It was simply a matter of ‘right versus wrong’, and not ‘who (Walsh) versus whom (a Pakistani company)’, which many of us failed to interpret correctly. The story was investigated by a highly reputable journalist and published in none other than the NYT. But, many still doubted its credibility, setting aside the article’s content under the umbrella of patriotism. And why not? After all it was done by a journalist who was expelled from Pakistan.
The aforesaid example, perhaps, reflects how we behave at the national level but this very ignorance (read denial) to acknowledge the wrong runs deep in our DNA. There are many wrongs in society that we commit frequently but we do not acknowledge them as wrongs. We run past red lights with utter disregard for traffic rules; steal electricity to power our ACs yet blame the government and power producers for load-shedding; litter our roads and streets, at times from moving cars (this also includes school-going children), but complain about the filth around us; jump queues while fighting others who do the same and the list goes on.
Anyone in doubt should keep their eyes open and observe how we behave as a society — if we are one at all. We are concerned about the ‘country’s positive image’ but don’t want to correct our wrongs. The way we have reacted to Walsh’s story as a society is more damaging to the country’s image.
Living in oblivion will not help us nor will this jingoism take us anywhere. We must be clear about what’s wrong regardless of who is blowing the whistle. Unless we acknowledge our wrongs, we can’t provide our children with a society they can call ‘civilised’. Think and decide.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2015.