farhanalee7
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TAKE a moment to consider the guillotine. More than the slogan of ‘liberté, egalité, fraternité’ this execution device became an emblem of the French revolution, or at least of the Terror that followed soon after.
This nation is dying by degrees.
Universally, the guillotine is now a symbol of that era, of arbitrary arrest and brutal punishment. I, however, think the guillotine gets a bad rap. From the victim’s perspective it’s actually a fairly humane way to exit this world.
On the other end of the execution spectrum is the fabled ‘death of a thousand cuts’, a Chinese invention. Here the individual slices don’t kill you; they don’t even incapacitate you, they just make you die by degrees.
After much consideration, it seems that it is this latter method of execution that we, as a nation, have chosen for ourselves.
One major advantage is that it gives you a lot of time to rationalise. ‘Am I really being killed here? Isn’t this just a tiny scratch? Is this nice man in the hood actually just helping me lose weight? Do I really need all these fingers?’
These distractions are important, because otherwise we’d have to pay more attention to the slow destruction we are undergoing. Without them, we’d have to contemplate some unwelcome facts. One, that for possibly the first time, the definition of blasphemy has been successfully expanded to include other personalities as well.
In Jhang, for example, lawyers have been booked for chanting slogans against an SHO named Omar. This apparently hurt religious sentiments enough for a case to be filed against the offending lawyers. Even more interestingly, it seems that the police might have enlisted the help of sectarian groups for this one.
It also helps us overlook that this, when taken together with the latest qawwali episode, is the effective fulfilment of the wishes of a large chunk of the extreme right who wanted the definition of blasphemy extended.
To look at the positives, this is proof that consistent hard work and lobbying can in fact effect change. It also really shuts up those annoying leftie types who keep insisting, thanks to some strange dogma, that violence and intimidation cannot effect positive change. It’s also a victory for forces that call for unity. After all, those ulema who are normally busy talking against each other are now united in one cause.
Another plus point is that rival channels which were previously unwilling to acknowledge each other’s existences are finally naming one another.
Were it not for the blinding agony, we would also notice another interesting happening. The channel that took on the ISI by making the incredibly ham-handed decision to run its chief’s picture next to what was an accusation of attempted murder still refuses to apologise for that error.
On the other hand, a whisper of blasphemy and an official apology has appeared, a suspension of the offending show has been carried out and an inquiry launched. Really goes to show where true power lies; with the man in the mask, the man holding the blade against your throat.
He’s been drawing blood for some time now. Now we’re so anemic that we’ve even dispensed with the platitudes, with the ‘we are all ABC’ and ‘Justice for XYZ.’ Instead we’ve found a wonderful distraction in playing patriot games, in hunting for traitors like some demented versions of Diogenes. We debate, but our debates are meaningless, full of rhetorical flourishes but devoid of any real content; much like this column itself. Of course, in my defence I can just say this is all meant to be symbolic.
And in our defence, I suppose that when you’re being tortured to death, it’s nice to have distractions. So we’ll discuss the ongoing media wars in the context of free speech and press freedom and ignore the terrorists that have muzzled us by simply shooting those they disagree with. We’ll dissect what Jinnah may or may not have wanted without ever thinking how irrelevant that conversation is in this day.
We’ll shout out for our sovereignty through foam-flecked maws without once realising that we ceded it long ago, to the worst amongst ourselves. That’s fine, because nothing feels quite as right as self-righteousness. It gives you that warm feeling in your chest that comes from asserting your religious and patriotic credentials. Unless that’s just the blood loss.
But there are solutions. We can take selfies praying in the Mumtaz Qadri mosque; we can flash our Osama Bin Laden library cards, we can rename ourselves after a holy personality, and wear our new NICs pinned to our chests. Just don’t drop them on the floor, unless you’re that impatient for the final cut to take place.
Land of the puréed - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
This nation is dying by degrees.
Universally, the guillotine is now a symbol of that era, of arbitrary arrest and brutal punishment. I, however, think the guillotine gets a bad rap. From the victim’s perspective it’s actually a fairly humane way to exit this world.
On the other end of the execution spectrum is the fabled ‘death of a thousand cuts’, a Chinese invention. Here the individual slices don’t kill you; they don’t even incapacitate you, they just make you die by degrees.
After much consideration, it seems that it is this latter method of execution that we, as a nation, have chosen for ourselves.
One major advantage is that it gives you a lot of time to rationalise. ‘Am I really being killed here? Isn’t this just a tiny scratch? Is this nice man in the hood actually just helping me lose weight? Do I really need all these fingers?’
These distractions are important, because otherwise we’d have to pay more attention to the slow destruction we are undergoing. Without them, we’d have to contemplate some unwelcome facts. One, that for possibly the first time, the definition of blasphemy has been successfully expanded to include other personalities as well.
In Jhang, for example, lawyers have been booked for chanting slogans against an SHO named Omar. This apparently hurt religious sentiments enough for a case to be filed against the offending lawyers. Even more interestingly, it seems that the police might have enlisted the help of sectarian groups for this one.
It also helps us overlook that this, when taken together with the latest qawwali episode, is the effective fulfilment of the wishes of a large chunk of the extreme right who wanted the definition of blasphemy extended.
To look at the positives, this is proof that consistent hard work and lobbying can in fact effect change. It also really shuts up those annoying leftie types who keep insisting, thanks to some strange dogma, that violence and intimidation cannot effect positive change. It’s also a victory for forces that call for unity. After all, those ulema who are normally busy talking against each other are now united in one cause.
Another plus point is that rival channels which were previously unwilling to acknowledge each other’s existences are finally naming one another.
Were it not for the blinding agony, we would also notice another interesting happening. The channel that took on the ISI by making the incredibly ham-handed decision to run its chief’s picture next to what was an accusation of attempted murder still refuses to apologise for that error.
On the other hand, a whisper of blasphemy and an official apology has appeared, a suspension of the offending show has been carried out and an inquiry launched. Really goes to show where true power lies; with the man in the mask, the man holding the blade against your throat.
He’s been drawing blood for some time now. Now we’re so anemic that we’ve even dispensed with the platitudes, with the ‘we are all ABC’ and ‘Justice for XYZ.’ Instead we’ve found a wonderful distraction in playing patriot games, in hunting for traitors like some demented versions of Diogenes. We debate, but our debates are meaningless, full of rhetorical flourishes but devoid of any real content; much like this column itself. Of course, in my defence I can just say this is all meant to be symbolic.
And in our defence, I suppose that when you’re being tortured to death, it’s nice to have distractions. So we’ll discuss the ongoing media wars in the context of free speech and press freedom and ignore the terrorists that have muzzled us by simply shooting those they disagree with. We’ll dissect what Jinnah may or may not have wanted without ever thinking how irrelevant that conversation is in this day.
We’ll shout out for our sovereignty through foam-flecked maws without once realising that we ceded it long ago, to the worst amongst ourselves. That’s fine, because nothing feels quite as right as self-righteousness. It gives you that warm feeling in your chest that comes from asserting your religious and patriotic credentials. Unless that’s just the blood loss.
But there are solutions. We can take selfies praying in the Mumtaz Qadri mosque; we can flash our Osama Bin Laden library cards, we can rename ourselves after a holy personality, and wear our new NICs pinned to our chests. Just don’t drop them on the floor, unless you’re that impatient for the final cut to take place.
Land of the puréed - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
