Media Watch – Page 3 – My Bit for Change

Defending Vulgarity

‘Branding’ as modern and targeting a niche which tags itself with ‘ultra-liberalism’ is certainly a matter of bread and butter for a section of media which is trying to bash every moral value. The target market of some newspapers might be the ultra liberal, highly sophisticated and modern society; where ‘everything’ is allowed as long as its not religious. It’s a source of earning for them to target that niche. But there must be some standard moral values for everyone to follow.

When society raises its voice against immorality, a section of press and media retaliates by raising hue and cry over it. Raising voices against vulgarity is immediately tagged with honour killings, acid attacks and terrorism support. These people simply fail to realize that if someone is against obscenity, it doesn’t mean that he is in favour of acid attacks (its not an with/against situation). It simply means that people are against a set of crimes which are committed in the name of liberating women. Treating woman as an object is the worst form of slavery, because the victims (women) usually don’t even know about it and they don’t realize the repercussions they have to face afterwards. Women objectified as a commodity in the commercial world often lead to their worst slavery. Indeed vulgarity is a great marketing tool for attractiveness. It has its own charm, but its killing the basic moral values of a society. With the current pace, its leading us to collective suicide.

The greater evil is actually defending the evil. Why do certain people think that they look cool when they play devils advocate? As described by Peter Robbins, everyone wants to get attention but some want it by hook or by crook. Even if it means becoming a terrorist or taking your clothes off, both have the same purpose of seeking attention. A lot of poor girls are promised of a bright future and high levels of fortune in the fashion world by encouraging them to loose their moral and ethical values.

Those who defend vulgarity, also use the argument that it’s a non-issue and we are facing issues like poverty and lack of education. Indeed poverty is a greater cause to be addressed but moral values are also equally important. With no morality, we can not call ourselves human. Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) said that ‘Haya (modesty) is an ingredient of faith’ (Sahi Muslim). Alot of ahadith (sayings) of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) indicate the importance of modesty. All religions give value to modesty, as its the one of the main things which mainly differentiates the humans and animals.

The problem with the liberal fascists is their confused ideology. They are westernized products in desi packaging. They can’t get rid of their packaging and that’s their dilemma throughout their life. They even go to the extent of ridiculing Islamic values, just to ‘qualify’ being a liberal. They try to promote things which are forbidden in Islam (and other religions) just to look modern. Under the label of ‘personal choice’ they want to legalize homosexuality, yet they claim to be praying five times a day. Deep inside their hearts, somewhere they know that they are going against the human nature (Islam), but still they continue on the path of glitters, leaving gold aside.

Islam categorically is against promotion of vulgarity in masses. Even the purpose of offering daily prayers is defined in ch 29, v 45 as

‘ Verily, As-Salât (the prayer) prevents from Al-Fahshâ’ (shameful, vulgar deeds) and Al-Munkar (i.e. disbelief, every kind of evil wicked deed)’;

which simply means that if you are offering daily prayers, it should result in modesty. If its not, then there is some shortcoming somewhere. Quran has given very strict remarks about those who propagate nudity and vulgarity in the society, in Ch 24 v 19 it says:

‘Surely, those who like that lewdness spreads among the believers, for them there is painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter’.

But here comes again the same problem. Pseudo liberals always ridicule the solution of ’repentance’ and returning to Almighty. For them creating a bond with the Creator is not a solution, but then they can’t provide any substantial solution either. In their own minds they are confused-but rather than trying to find answers, they continue to follow the blind path of ignorance. In the end, its for us (the masses) to decide what path we choose. Media depict of such issues brings vulgarity to the forefront & when viewed or read about over long periods of time, it will have a sadly numbing affect on our society (especially the future generations to come). Hence, whatever path we choose to follow must be clear & transparent. Right and wrong are clearly identified, choice is ours.

Repeating Mistakes

The news of Bhoja Air crash shook the entire country all at once. Every local news channel was covering the accident insensitively, showing dead bodies and wreckage of the plane. Each anchorperson was pointing fingers and raising questions about the accident. 127 people lost their precious lives but it was merely an exclusive news event for many channels. Thanks to the free media, the news reached everywhere immediately, but no one was considering the ethics related to such reporting. News Channels were trying to achieve the mileage and earn more viewer ratings. This event will be in the headlines for few days, but eventually the media will forget this event and will get busy in some more exclusive issue like that of the ‘wedding of a sania mirza’.

One thing which was brought again to the limelight due to this crash was the forgotten Airblue plane crash at Margalla hills. Airblue plane crashed and resulted in a similar hue and cry all over the country. Promises were made for a thorough investigation, but nothing substantial happened. The families of the victims still don’t know the real reasons. Bhoja Air accident happened near same airport and under same weather conditions again because lessons were not learnt from the first one. No one was held accountable, which led to conspiracy theories related to the air crash.

Few weeks before the Bhoja Air crash, Dawn news reported about Airblue plane crash that and said: ‘ It is regrettable that the causes of the crash, compensation to the families of the deceased and preventive measures are yet to be fully resolved even after about 21 months’. It further says ‘Worse still, this will also show that Pakistan does not have even a handful of persons of competence to handle its domestic air crash’.

As it is said in a famous urdu verse :

حالات پرورش کرتے ھیں برسوں

حادثہ ایک دم نہیں ھوتا

Neglecting mistakes over the years lead to accidents. And once again the similar accident occurred. Had we properly enquired the previous air crash, this one could have been avoided. The sense of accountability and responsibility towards human lives is totally missing in this scenario.

Islam doesn’t forbid us to take safety measures. Being a biomedical engineer, I have witnessed a lot of such events in hospitals, where ‘technical’ mistakes of medics and paramedics lead to the death of a patient, but the family members are told that ‘its will of Allah’. Indeed its will of Allah, but HE has made us accountable for what we do. This is a ‘trick of the trade’ in all the professions in Pakistan that when some human calamity occurs, blame Almighty for it and avoid lawsuits which may follow in any civilized country.

There is a commercial aspect to the whole story. The plane of Bhoja air was apparently old and unfit for flying, yet it was allowed to fly ‘this one time’. The pilot was probably under pressure for not diverting the plane to any other destination because of the fuel consumption. Still the circumstances are not unveiled that what made the pilot to decide for landing in such weather conditions. The known thing is only that 127 people lost their lives. Saving a human life, is like saving entire humanity. But here, we don’t care about the safety of hundreds of lives.

While i was typing these lines, news were coming in about a plane of Shaheen air, whose landing gear broke while landing. Thankfully the aircraft narrowly escaped the disaster which could have been terrible. This clearly indicates that rules regarding technical aspects and safety of aircrafts need to be forcefully implemented.

Its pity that we don’t plan for emergency situations. Alot of incidents of fire eruption occur, but we rarely find that something has been learnt from these mistakes. Precious lives are continuously at stake. I wonder when will be ‘grown enough’ to realize our social responsibilities as citizens of this country. Human life is the cheapest thing available in Pakistan.

The media is more focused on increasing its TRPs. The entire coverage is based on sensations. Media did the same in air blue crash and then never took up the matter in upcoming months. Airtime was then reserved for the the likes of veenas and meeras and no one pointed out the mistakes that led to the air crash. This will happen again, people will forget it, and the government will get busy in protecting its corruption.

Some lessons need to be learnt from this air crash. Better we learn them sooner and avoid repeating mistakes.

Ethical Marketing …..

Today while driving from my home to office in Karachi, I managed to take the route of NIPA to Hassan Square. On that track, there was a billboard to which my sight came across. I stopped my car on the side of the road and stood still in front of the billboard & kept looking at it for 5 minutes. The only thing my brain anticipated during these 5 minutes was “A BIT FOR CHANGE . . . “.

That billboard was delivering a very important message relating to a forgotten lesson which the religion Islam taught to the “MUSLIM” nation of the “ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN”, a lesson relating to the respect of women. That billboard was saying “Stop Promoting Nudity for Selling Your Fabric”. Then I managed to take a picture of that billboard.

As the summer season has just arrived, the female lawn designers have placed the advertisement on the billboards promoting their products through female and that too without considering the Islamic limits of ethics. The question arises that why does the marketing is portraying a woman as an object? Is there no other way of promoting the fabric without a female model? Will their sales revenue decrease if they only promote the designs without a woman on the billboards?

Most of the people would appreciate this piece of work but some will be labeling it with the conservative mindset. It seems that we have not only snatched the HIJAB of the Muslim female of our society but has also placed them on the enormous billboards. I would like to mention the Quran versus, in which the Almighty Allah, the Creator of mankind and the universe says in Surah Al-Ahzaab, Verse #59:

‘O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (“Jalabib”) veils all over their bodies (screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way that is most convenient that they should be known (as such) and not molested: and Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.”:

It is the time that we must do the assessment of our society that are we following the orders Allah Almighty. This is the time to examine that are we in the limits of the ethics assigned to us by Allah Almighty or we have crossed them all. Islam is the only religion which talks about the female respect and honor They are like the clove of the unopened flowers as they are not pricked by anyone unless they blossom there hidden beauty our of them. In Abu Dawood, Book 32, Hadith # 4091 Ummul Muminin Hazrat Ayesha (Radhiallaahu Anhu) narrated

“May Allah have mercy on the early immigrant women. When the verse “That they should draw their veils over their bosoms” was revealed, they tore their thick outer garments and made veils from them.

The time has arrived that we should move towards a complete Islam rather then following the only versus which are favorable to us. We have to stop this evil or else may be our own next coming generation will be on these billboards. According to the book “Kenz Al-Omal, v. 13, p. 91 & 93” The Prophet (s) said,

“A caller will call out on the Day of Judgment, ‘lower your gaze until Fatima (Radhiallaahu Anhu) has passed.”

Keeping in mind the Islamic teaching & taking the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaih Wasalam, his Ahl e Bayt & Sahabah Ikraam Rizwaanullahe Ajmaeen, we have to explore marketing techniques free from unethical means. Let us secure our Muslim society so that our females may breath again free from embarrassments. The time has come to represent the true image of Muslim not only by words but by conduct. Let us all join our hands to promote this Nobel cause and take another step to free our society from evil.

Forced Assertion or Transparent Conversion?

No scholar, no sect, no Islamic organization has ever advocated ‘forced conversions’ nor does any page in Islamic history allows such tactic that could have easily wiped out every non-Muslim in Subcontinent, Most of Europe, Africa, Middle East and Jerusalem during the time when reins of power were in Muslim hands; Since nothing of that sort happened is a clear evidence that this practice has never existed in Islam in fact Qur’an clearly states,

“La Ikaraha fi’deen” – There is no Compulsion in Deen.

In fact history does tell us about the benevolent conduct of Muslims with other faiths contrary to wrong assertions of forcing people into Islam.

It was shocking for me to learn that a ‘Hindu Girl’ had been forcefully converted to Islam after being kidnapped by Influential people in Mirpur Mathelo District of Sindh. There was a vortex of information on national and international media, flowing around unverified. Some were addressing their concerns over, “rising sense of insecurity” and some demanded “Suo Moto Action” from Supreme Court, resolution was moved in Sindh Assembly against forced conversions, tirade of this significant incident and more of such alleged ‘conversions’ ensued and gripped social networks, international media, human right activists and government quarters as well. PPP’s MPA Pitanber Sawami, went to the extent of saying that Hindus in Pakistan should not be forced to wage a war against the state in a similar way to what Baluch Nationalists are doing.

There were protests registered by the Hindu-community against these alleged post-marriage ‘forced-conversions’ and even Human Rights Commission (HRCP) jumped in condemning the incident seeking a judicial probe. Our ‘Free-thinking’ and ‘Liberal Society’ including some journalists’ were busy ‘tweeting their fingers out’ on this gruesome incident further demonizing Pakistani society as if ‘Gujrat’ kind of riots had broken out (reviewing their timelines will reveal that they might have never condemned genocidal atrocities against Muslims anywhere in the world) forsaking the basic ethics of journalism and information sharing only to prove their bias towards unverified news that easily taints a horrendous picture of Islam in Pakistan. Good for their liking.

Believing in to the news that has been reported since the incident, the micro-blogging networks and weeping around left no doubt that this case is exactly as being presented and indeed minorities are being forced on gun-point for conversions throughout Pakistan’s nook and corner.

But again, few questions that were constantly striking my mind, or would have popped up in any impartial and sane human being’s mind that came across this ‘disturbing’ news were; Where is the girl? And what’s her say?

There was a ray of hope, maybe this hatred is unjustified, and maybe this incident is similar to usual disgust that we see against Islam in our own “Islamic Republic”. And Yes, Finally the news broke out, Rinkal Kumari was proud of being ‘Faryal Shah’ now.

The alleged kidnapped girl appeared before the media on Thursday and clearly stated that she was NOT KIDNAPPED! And had NOT been forced to convert to Islam and marry Naveed Shah. She claimed to have taken both decisions of accepting Islam and marrying Naveed Shah in accordance of her FREE-WILL and that NOBODY has pressurized her into this. She read out the Kalima Tayyaba, in front of the media and reiterated that she is now a MUSLIM GIRL and had nothing to do with her parents.

The couple was produced before the Sindh High Court in front of Sukkur bench in strict security; scorted on their way to court by SSP Ghotki Pir Muhammad Shah. The PPP-MPA Mian Muhammad Haq and his son Mian Muhammad Aslam who were alleged for being complicit and involved in the kidnapping were also present at the court.

Advocate Murad luund representing Faryal’s Grandfather Manohar Lal kept asserting that the girl is under pressure and things will become “Crystal Clear” in Karachi in a tension free atmosphere. Whereas Mian Mohammad Aslam of Bharchoondi Sharif responded by saying that everyone (including the media) has seen that Faryal was not under any pressure, not even saying anything against Pirs.

On the allegation by Luund, Aslam said,

“Rather she gave a statement against her own maternal uncle who is threatening to kill her.” he further said his father PPP-MNA Mian Abdul Haq had come to the court only because the parents of the girl requested they wanted to meet their daughter, unfortunately they did not come.

Aslam told the court that Faryal had spoken to her family on his instructions on 24^th February the day she came to Dargah Bharchoondi Sharif telling them about her pressure-free conversion and decision to marry Naveed Shah.

“I personally requested them to come over and meet their daughter to see for themselves that she was not under pressure, but they didn’t’ come,” Said Mian Aslam.

He also said that neither Islam nor the law of the land allowed forced conversions how could it be possible for us to force someone on accepting Islam?

Well! What moral ground does the “Liberal Machine” hold now; after the enthralling revelation by the ‘kidnapped’ and ‘forcefully converted’ lady?

The fundamental reason I find the notion of ‘forced-conversions’ to Islam nearly impossible is simply because Islam in its core beliefs does not adhere to lip-service, yes, reciting the kalimah does gets a person in the folds of Islam but the acceptance of heart is necessary and the main fundamental which cannot be manoeuvred or forced.

On the contrary, there remains no doubt that intimidation, threats, tortures and social-boycotts massively prevail for innocent converts who choose to become Muslims after they get close to the religion’s teachings by any inspiration; Let it be love of a person, magnetic character of a follower or perhaps studying the comparison and insight by research. Unfortunately, No ‘Liberal’ or ‘Pseudo-Journalist’ bothers to fight their case by exposing the ‘hate-mongers’ and ‘vengeance-seekers’ present in minorities destined only to bring a bad name to peaceful minorities that do believe in co-existence and are largely accepted by all Pakistanis.

Hence, the case of once Rinkal Kumari has proved to be yet another case of ‘Forced-Assertion’ of a fair, true, transparent and rightful conversion of ‘Faryal Shah’ the proud bride of Mirpur Mathelo. May ALLAH protect her and many others threatened against their ‘free-will’ to decide the most important elements of one’s life – his/her faith and belief.

Are there any rules for a social media debate ?

Do we follow any common rules whenever we debate over social media? The stories of bashing and abusive languages are very common when anyone tries to share personal opinion, in favour of or against any issue. Those who portray themselves as tolerant and liberal also lose their patience when they run out of arguments. The debates become heated discussions and usually no conclusions are derived in the end and no opinions are changed.

Debates on social media remind me of my college days when I actively participated in study circles and group discussions. Those forums were used to share our thoughts on a pre-decided social or religious topics and everyone would have to come prepared with their research and opinions. The rules were strictly defined, i.e.; no personal attacks and no point scoring techniques. It wasn’t about winning or losing an argument, rather the whole idea was to develop a better understanding on issues. ‘Sacrifice of opinion’ was categorically taught and was instrumental in reaching consensus over the issues. The moderator used to have a very crucial role to play to keep the things calm.

Social media has given everyone an opportunity to express their opinions. Whenever you say something, you have to listen to the other side too, in order to keep a balance. It’s an utter failure if we are not ready to listen. Our society is going towards two different extremes and one easily gets tagged with one or other extreme even if you have nothing to do with either of them. You are put into camps and tagged with the payrolls without any logic. The point that you are in ‘opponent’ camp if you aren’t uttering my words, is taking us nowhere. Many a times, emphasis is given to pressurize others to speak the words which they don’t necessarily believe in, and this surely comes under fascism. Also we have different rules for ourselves and for others. One thing might be commendable if our hero is doing it and something similar might be a nuisance and condemnable, if it comes from the opponent camp.

We have a serious problem with ‘active reading’ as well. In our schools, we are taught the skills of ‘active listening’, but very little focus is done on active reading. Probably that is the reason that on social media we only seldom read what the other person is writing. Usually the twists and turns of the words and out of context statements and misquoting are done for point scoring, negating any logic and negative propaganda based on lies. The haste of commenting and replying just adds to the problem and very soon the debates turn into an online fight.

A much deep-rooted problem is the confusion of ideology. Uttering two opposite things in one sigh is such a common phenomenon that it amuses me. A lot of times, people don’t understand what they are talking about. Information from internet is randomly copied and pasted without even understanding the basic idea. Also, new questions are put forward in reply of previous questions while the originals remain unanswered. Sometimes the answers aren’t read or understood and a new question is raised. More and more confusion is raised for no reason which is resulting in division in the society.

Blogging world also witnesses many blogs just conveying one side of the story and promoting hate speech. Criticism for the sake of criticism is in fashion on one hand and lack of tolerance reigns. Harsh comments and retaliatory responses reduce the influence of actual message.

A lot of people also have their own connotations of the words. Some even find the word ‘female students’ as abusive to women and if argued, they just retaliate without any logic. The approach of ‘holier than thou’ and concepts of ‘learned than thou’ are embedded in the mind-sets of many.

Most of the bashing is done in the name of religion (for/against) and politics. Even if you tell something specific about someone which is positive today, immediately a rebuttal will come for something negative done decades ago by them. Can we appreciate something positive without ifs n buts? A difficult question, I guess.

Due to these reasons, more humble and literate people avoid online social media debates. And the result is that sensible voices are reducing in the social media world. If the trend continues, I am afraid social media will be left to abusers only. The life on social media is not in isolation. It definitely has an impact on our daily life routine. The discussions on social media leave a bad taste in mouth at times and spoil the mood. So these debates are creating a negative impact on our daily life as well. The language we use in social media, very much becomes the part of our daily life.

There is a simple rule of debate, mentioned in Quran (chap 25, v 63 and v 72)

‘The (faithful) slaves of the Beneficent are they who walk upon the earth modestly, and when the foolish ones address them answer: Peace; (63).

And those who will not witness vanity, but when they pass near senseless play, pass by with dignity. (72)

Peaceful debates and dialogues are healthy and needed to develop better understanding of the situation and working towards solutions. The strife for winning an argument or point scoring will not help us. Competition is a good thing but when we compete in terms of leg-pulling, it becomes destructive. Constructive debates are only those, where we share the knowledge and experience to develop a better understanding.

A milestone achieved!

‘My Bit for Change’ has achieved a big milestone in the form of Best Activist Award at Pakistan Blog Awards 2011. With the highest number of votes on the nomination, MBFC topped the category.

With nearly 22,000 facebook fans in a short span of 10 months, MBFC is expanding every day with a new spirit. Every little bit towards change is helpful. But what do we call ‘change’? To us, change needs to start from within, of course without ignoring the responsibility of changing the environment. Both need to be worked upon, in parallel. In a world where social media is playing its role of breaking and leaking facts, spreading news about injustices and oppression, (hidden by the corporate media) and overthrowing brutal dictators, every one of us has a responsibility. As we say ‘We are not responsible to change the whole world, but we’ll surely be questioned about our bit if it could help and our silence where a word mattered most.’’

MBFC introduced ‘different blogging’ based on morals, values and mental decolonization, hard to find on conventional media. Unless we stand on our feet and represent and take pride in our identity, the world will always look down upon us. We’ve shared news of the oppressed from Palestine and Kashmir, pictures as they happen whether it’s Pakistan, Gaza or Wall Street, injustices and double standards of neo colonial forces, Islamophobia, casualties of innocent people due to home grown terrorism or this ‘War of terror’, quotes of the learned, revolutionary poetry of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Habib Jalib, and Manzar Bhopali (from India), liberating and enlightening verses of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Hadith and the Quranic Verses. We have posted content to bring different faiths and ethnic groups together as we strongly believe in spreading love because life is too short to hate anyone and besides, hatred and parting only weakens us and serves enemies’ interests. Also, we strive to stitch the moral fabric of the society ripped apart by conventional media.

MBFC which was founded by a few enthusiastic volunteers has transformed into a blogging forum with its ‘writers family’ growing incredibly because all of us want to ‘speak and get it out of the system’ for the better.

‘In the times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act’’ ~ George Orwell

We owe a word of thanks to Pakistan Blog Awards for providing all the bloggers a platform helping them to get encouragement and recognition. We also owe a word of thanks to those 22,000 fans who add their bits every day and the people who voted for us and cherished our victory.

But most of all, we are extremely grateful to Almighty Allah and pray that he accepts every little effort to bring about positive change in the society. We are more humbled by this achievement and are fully aware that the responsibility has only increased. But ‘together we can do it’. You are the real force behind our success and it’s just the beginning of the path towards the goal. Keep bringing your bits, write when it hurts and raise your voice. It matters!

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Jack Kerouac

Evolution of our media

While flipping through the channels, I stared blankly at the TV screen as I sat there wondering how the media has evolved over the past few years. From just a single black and white channel to a vast variety to choose from, the media has done its part in not only entertaining us but also keeping us updated on what’s happening around the globe, but not without some repercussions.

Not so long ago, the women, allegedly the chief audience of the tube, were hooked on to the Indian soaps, so much so that they were adopting the Indian culture as their own, with use of Hindi language in their everyday conversation, mimicking their style of dressing, pouring thousands of their hard earned money on make up in their efforts to look more and more like the Tulsis, Parvatis and Kashishs of the Indian television industry.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the Pakistani media thought it their duty to start making dramas that would revolve around the same plots as the Indian soaps, with the same exaggerated expressions and glamorous ambience, in hopes of attracting more viewers.

In the past, the plays echoed real life issues with the performers focusing solely on expressing the emotions that were required, not a show of amplified sentiments. Most of the current inclination of our entertainment industry as far as television is concerned is to provide the juiciest show they possibly can without worrying about its consequences. From how I see it, it has become a race and media is trying its utmost to win it any way it can.

Lately, to my utter astonishment and horror, an astounding number of dramas are being filmed on topics that are not even close to reality. The favourite theme of every channel nowadays is extramarital affair, prostitution and/or promiscuity. Gone are the days when the dramas that were made to view in the family hour, could be viewed with the family. This is contrary to the current trends of productions.

Why then do we worry about the youth not being as innocent as they were back in olden days? Are we not responsible for most of what has happened? As goes the saying, as you sow, so shall you reap!

I still think our duty as a citizen of the state is not finished. If we want a better Pakistan, a state which was founded on the ideology of Islam and named for its purity, we need to come forward and speak up for putting a stop to absurdities like immoral representation of our culture and blatant spread of debauchery by some of the private productions.

Freedom and (ir)responsibility

Newspapers that maintain a left-of-centre policy in Pakistan claim to be unbiased and independent on facts and reporting. However, they are often subjected to ruthless criticism by the rightist journalists and bloggers for misleading the facts and total biased reporting of events.

Maintaining a left-of-centre or rightist policy is the legal choice of the institution and its investors and news institutions have been doing so since past many decades. There have always been debates between the rightists and the leftists on academic issues and both the sides have published their arguments, leaving it to the readers to decide.

However, in the past couple of years and with the birth of several private media institutions in Pakistan, the standard and quality of journalism has dropped drastically. With shortage of professional and seasoned journalists in Pakistan, several media organizations have hired fresh graduates and MBAs for their editorial teams and without proper ethical training and guidance, they have been granted freedom to operate in the online editions of these newspapers and TV channels.

To add credibility to my argument, recently an English newspaper published a amateur blog, NOT an article from a seasoned journalist, on their website, which was well in accordance with their editorial policy. There is no point in arguing whether such amateur criticism should be published or not, but what happened next is more disturbing and reflects the state of our media industry professionals. The Tweet below, by the web-editor of the newspaper says it all!

Yes, thats what I am talking about. A journalist, who is assumed to be a responsible person (probably) is writing the wonderful remarks “Cmon, say it w me now… Fuck the JI,” as well as inviting his followers on Twitter to do the same. This comment is neither “centre-of-left” nor “rightist”, its just an unethical, immoral comment from a person, whose public tweets to promote the traffic on website are going unchecked.

There is no doubt that even the basic dynamics of journalism are changing and the story now initiates from tweeting and citizen journalism as argued by Paul Bradshaw, however, I couldn’t find any latest research on the fact that improper and unethical language can be used to propagate an ideology and attract visitors to the website, or in legacy terms increase circulation. Perhaps, its an old idea rejected by the educationists, so they don’t publish it on the internet anymore! I find no difference between the “Urdu Eveningers”, who publish Masala stories, sell sex and end up in increased circulation, and the more sophisticated “English Eveningers” who use almost the same techniques to increase their ranking on Alexa and increase the no. of tweets and shares on Facebook!

Having said that, let me re-iterate what I have been promoting since the past many years in the journalist community, that there is a dire need for a body that monitors the online editions of newspapers and TV channels for unethical and derogatory content. There is nothing as absolute freedom of speech. Because, with absolute freedom, comes mere irresponsibility! Thats what has been proven so far.

Happy Father’s Day, Everyday!

Happy father’s day to everyone!!!!!!

“This is the day to express your love for your father, make him feel special on this Sunday. Father’s Day is a day honouring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society.’’

These clips are not adverts from BBC, SKY or some other western channels, I saw them on a local
Pakistani channels here in the UK and I am sure this is true for all the other various channels that broadcast to millions of Pakistanis back home.

I just asked myself for a logical explanation as to what’s the point? Why is there only one Father’s day and only one Mother’s day celebrated in the Western society? So, in order to find an answer and justify the significance, I let my observation go wild and tried to encompass things which I have learnt being a very close observant of this society.

There is an absolute need to celebrate dedicated days for parents in a society where the bond between parent and child is very delicate and might be non-existent after a certain age and stage; A society where 3 in 5 women aged 75+ live alone. (attached is a graph which shows the percantage of men and women in UK living alone at different ages); where an old parent is a hindrance to fun filled life and where the slogan is ‘Be nice to your children as they are the ones who would decide which old house you’d end up in’ (reads a ‘humorous’ car sticker); where living with your parents is ridiculed by your mates, where an old parent falls on the floor of a lonely haunting house and there is no one to give him a hand to stand up again, until the milk delivery man comes next morning only to find no answer at the door and calls the police and ambulance. A society where mothers abuse and kill their children, youngsters abuse and beat the vulnerable elderly, fathers leave their partners to survive as ‘lone mothers’ who may be as young as mid-teens such dedicated days are indeed reminders of those vague bonds that exist by chance and not by choice.

The economic system here requires both parents to work to survive, which inevitably makes it difficult for them to spend quality time with their children. Such celebrations are required where children spend most of their time not in the company of their parents but child-minders, friends, mobile phones and internet. It’s a reflection of the society in which one-parent families on the rise. In the same society, morality dips down to the fact that they debate in the parliament on the very ‘need for a father’ to make a family and encourage lesbians to have children using IVF.

Rather than blindly copying (only the) useless traits of the West, let’s celebrate our values. Celebrate each day as mother’s day, a person whose cries at the time of childbirth can never be paid off and she keeps on bearing pains bringing us up and helping us keeping our head up high and reaching our goals; serving whom is more weighty than going to war in the way of Allah, if she is old and dependant. Celebrate everyday as father’s day in whose pleasure lies the pleasure of God and in whose displeasure lies the displeasure of God (according to a Tirmidhi Hadith).

And yes! Let’s be proud of a family system of respect which thankfully has been made an obligation by God upon us; which keeps us close and beautifully tied in the bonds of eternal trust and a package of ‘give and take’ throughout our lives. It is our family system and respect to our elders, religiously engraved on our minds which makes us proud and keeps us going in all the difficult times and has so far prevented us from a nervous breakdown. And it is this quality which non-Muslim parents feel as an obvious positive change in their ‘new converts to Islam’ children.

Does that make your head high enough to celebrate a trait which should be a trend-setter for other nations and not vice versa?

Come on! Let’s celebrate. Make our parents happy every day; the easiest way to please God every day.

“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honour” [al-Isra’ 17:23]

Be Wary of The Headlines

“Muslim beauty stoned to death’’ was a headline, I came across on a news website.

The screaming headline is a perfect example of yellow journalism gone wild. Unfortunately these dirty tactics of marketing news have become a norm. The news was picked up from British and Ukrainian newspapers which in summary said,

“Aspiring Miss Ukraine stoned to death under Shariah Law by Crimean Radical Islamist. The man was told to be a radicalised Wahabi extremist and the lady was reportedly a Muslim who was given this punishment by him as it is not allowed for women to take part in a beauty contest in Islam”

Sensational and ‘Masalay-dar’ as it sounds, our media didn’t bother to carry out any further research before propagating this piece, as it perfectly fulfils the purpose and agenda they are working on.

A few hours later the headline was amended to ‘’Teenage beauty ‘’ instead of ‘’Muslim beauty’’ and an addendum was added to the article as the original story was absolutely different to what was published. An elementary online research shows:

There are conflicting reports and according to Crimean Police, the girl was not a Muslim
The boy who killed her strangled her and then struck a blunt object on her head which according to the police was her cause of death
The boy was her admirer and was suffering from serious mental health disorder
The only relation of the killer with Islam was that his parents were non-practising Muslims who had never attended a Mosque.

According to Ukrainian Interior Minister, “There was no underlying religious, national or inter-ethical motives behind the murder.”

Big round of applause to Pakistani media which never misses an opportunity to defame Islam, Muslims or Shariah Laws by strictly following the rules of the game. This is in line with the negative stereotyping of Muslims, that western media is bent upon promoting. A threat, a bomb, a killing- a faint link to anyone having a Muslim sounding name, there you go! You have a perfect combination, so publish, propagate and make money.

How many of us know about a police officer killed in an explosion caused by a bomb planted under his car in Northern Ireland (the 2nd of April 2011), or Irish militants warning of a bomb blast in central London just a day before Queen Elizabeth’s first state visit to Ireland (16th May 2011) or the discovery of a bomb in town of Maynooth ,15 minutes away from Dublin and a second suspicious device found at a Dublin tram station (the 17th of May 2011). Of course, it doesn’t carry any material for any media hype as no Muslims were found attached to it.

How many of us remember Marwah Al-Sherbini, a 32 year old Egyptian girl who was called a ‘Muslim bitch and a terrorist whore’ and was killed by a racist in a German court. She was three months pregnant and was stabbed 18 times with a verdict by her killer, ‘you don’t have a right to live’ (July 2009). Has anyone seen our media talking about the plight of Muslims all over the world because of being Muslims’? Of course not! Because those 50 million dollars pledged by President Obama are not to serve that cause.

How many of us saw our media getting furious about Niqab ban in France. Did you see any feminist or human rights NGOs voicing this issue? Did you see any blog or article or even a news showing their fury or concern on Sharon Horgan’s comments on BBC’s ‘Have I got news for you?’ when she calls Makkah as Mecca (hub) of suicide bombers just a few days ago.

I was watching an interview with Yuri Bezmenov on YouTube , a trained KGB agent, recorded in 1985.

He tells “In recent times, 15% of the time, money and manpower is spent on espionage, and 85% is spent on the great brainwashing process called the ideological subversion or psychological warfare. It changes the perception of reality so much so that despite the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions.”

In a nutshell, he lays out four steps to transform the thinking and behaviour of an entire population, namely:

Demoralisation (which takes 10-15 years to brainwash one generation)
Destabilisation (over 2-5 years) where economy, foreign relations and defence systems are rattled.
Crisis
Normalisation (a cynical term which lasts indefinitely and includes violent changes of power and structure and economy)

Demoralization is a task so religiously being fulfilled by our media, print as well as electronic. And you can be a part of it by qualifying to minimum criterion of joining the team which serves the purpose of ‘ideological subversion’. Believe! Pen is mightier than sword but only if your ink is made visible to public and that happens if you fulfil their criteria. So if you have a story (no matter how fabricated), or an opinion (no matter how useless) or you have enough vocabulary to bash the bearded, ridicule the word of God and blame the Shariah Laws, or simply have an obscene picture for an explicit topic like porn, sex, contraception, you are a perfect candidate to become a part of some ‘Sexpress Tycoons’.If you have a video showing a woman is being whiplashed by bearded men and you can stretch a story or add mirch masala to it, you have everything that takes to become a potential blogger or a writer.

I adore my prime inspiration, Malcolm X’s quote where he says,

“The press is so powerful in its image-making role that it can make a criminal look like a victim and make the victim look like a criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppression”

Let’s keep our eyes open to the dirty tricks of the people who are out to sell their news (and Eiman) for a few bags of dollars and helping the confusion grow every day.