Our collective unconsciousness

It’s about finding a party, making an effort to stay with it and not get sucked into the business as usual routine.

It’s amazing how many people seem to have an opinion on my political future. There is advice, encouragement, discouragement, and it’s personal and it’s emotional; it’s vicarious politics. On the one hand, they bemoan the lack of honest politicians and, on the other, talk authoritatively about real politick and ‘the Pakistani way’ in which the game is played. The discussion is circular and always come back to the point that politics is dirty, a disease and will only infect those that are clean because that’s how it has always been and there is no cure.

These are all smart people and they are worried, not just about the way things are going but about the fact that they don’t seem to have the wherewithal to do much about it. Every time they think they have a grip on things, our politicians wrestle rational thought to the ground. Television channels flash images of the righteous protesting too much and, in all the confusion of who stands where, important issues are thrown out the window.

What our political forces don’t seem to realise is that what they do only makes people afraid. Not afraid of politicians but afraid of what the future holds for them and the fact that their future is in the hands of those politicians. If WikiLeaks has taught us anything, it is that no matter what you say out of the side of your mouth, it will find itself in plain speech in a dispatch. A cable would quite obviously read Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s epiphany and sudden urge to purge us of corruption as a Machiavellian effort to control the religious conscience of the country. Of course, he could be convinced, at a small cost, to save democracy and come back in the larger interest of the country. It’s almost as though everything is beyond a joke now, it’s a game a few play with the lives of millions. They are, without a doubt, fan followers of the Queen of Hearts forever immortalised by her famous refrain, ‘off with her head’.

So while the country faces one serious challenge after another, we continue to fiddle, and it makes you wonder whether anyone is serious about anything. Where do they find the time to do all the things they do? Is it just to avoid doing the things they should do? I am beginning to wonder if we are part of some intergalactic video game. Surely if it was about having some sort of consciousness, and not a self-destruct button, there is much that would not be happening.

The media plays a hugely vital role in all this. Theirs is probably the most powerful position as they disseminate information and news 24/7. Imagine what could happen if our media understood the concept of breaking news, if stories were based on fact not speculation and if everything was not driven by someone’s agenda. Imagine a strong credible media that keeps checks, not only on itself, but on all institutions, civil and military, and in doing so helps ensure that the intergalactic video game stops and the controls are in our own hands. Once we realise we are in control, we may develop a seriousness of purpose.

Back to the business at hand, I realise it’s not just about finding a party it’s about finding a party, making that conscious deliberate effort to stay with it and at the same time not get sucked into the business as usual routine. To do that, one would need a lot of help to stay on track. As my friend Hamir Soomro said while I was writing this, why do we bash the politician, why don’t we take a long hard look at ourselves and acknowledge the role we have played? How many respect a politician who drives up in his small car? Very few, the rest will queue up behind the one that arrives in the huge gas-guzzler hoping for a little piece of the pie. Hamir, saddened by the lack of standards, made an interesting observation: “People won’t keep a dog without checking its pedigree, but do they stop to check the pedigree of those who they marry their daughters off to?”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2010.