Sunday, May 6, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
From Pakistan with love...
Contributed by Rabie Haider
In
an alternate universe, S. Hussein sends a letter to A.A. Zardari, inquiring if
he should consider imitating the version of democracy practiced in the Nation.
Dear S. Hussein,
Let’s face it, you and I are both here for the money. Our
practices may be different on the surface; I run a democratic country and you
practice dictatorship, but deep down inside, we are both the same. Our motives
are the same, we share the same desires, we both are materialistic and we both
are highly talented at what we do.
Dictatorship is a dying trend and democracy is the latest global
fad/trend. I guarantee you that unless you change some fundamental practices of
your government; you will not remain in power much longer. The present Super
Power practices a farce of a governmental order and in order to ensure its
continued existence, it cannot allow any of its competing ideologies to remain
intact.
Nevertheless, I have good news for you. Democracy is a
simple process. All that you have to do is to step down from your post
temporarily and announce free elections. Promise the masses their basic
necessities (food, clothing and housing) and they will rally behind you like
sheep behind a shepherd. The next step is a little complicated, but nothing
hard to pull off. You just have to inform your political adversaries that you
will rig the voting process in your favor and in return they can have anything
they want (within reasonable limits of course) once you are in power again. Please
ensure that anyone who disagrees should become involved in a little “accident”
somewhere down the line. Lastly, promise your fellow politicians the same
positions they currently have (with new titles of course).
You may question; what of the Super Power? The answer is,
once again, simple. Promise them a few of your oil fields and you will have
their full support (and funding).
You have my and the Nations full support. We will be with
you every step down the road.
Yours Sincerely,
A.A. Zardari
President of the Nation
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Empowerment
Contributed by Ahsan Asif
I write this post after just seeing another one of Telenor’s ‘Khamoshi ka boycott’ commercial, the one in which the girl starts screaming in the middle of the street and the ‘gundas’ get a message from the society that because of their actions, society is falling into disrepute. Apart from finding this ad hilariously naïve, I fail to register any depth in this and other commercials that are aimed at ‘liberating’ the youth. Telenor wants to liberate the youth from injustice, Jazz liberates the youth through cheap calling rates. Sprite offers solutions for the youth’s problems in its ‘University of Freshology’ series. It seems that the ‘youth’ has replaced ‘customers’ at the bottom (or top, as you see it) of any corporation’s hierarchy. However, instead of actually helping this nation’s youth, companies and advertisers have made them prisoners to the oldest and most important concept in economics: consumption.
But what lead to the emergence of this new priority? I have so far identified only one factor, an idea that was intended for a lot of good, but has now commercialized into one of Pakistan’s biggest advertisement scams: youth empowerment programs. In the previous decade, we have seen a meteoric rise in the number of events that aim at youth empowerment and personal growth. Institutes like the IBA, LUMS, SZABIST, CBM, all had identified the potential these programs had, and this led to the creation of YLES (at LUMS) AIMS, IBLC, etc (at IBA) and the emergence of MUNs (Model United Nations) at almost every reputable institute. These programs provided the youth with a viable platform to showcase their talents, get valuable experience and exposure, and deal with situations they would face in their professional lives.
TV channels and companies, however, saw this as a feasible business opportunity. They then took the concept and twisted it until it suited their own needs. The confident, mature and conscious youth these programs intended to create were then turned into a liberated, careless bunch of spoiled brats whose daily mantra was to consume. Consume cell phone subscriptions, consume soft drinks and consume *product name here*, just because they wanted to. They were liberated to consume. And that is empowerment, isn’t it? The right to consume commodities, maximize utility and be happy?
No. Empowerment doesn’t mean just consumption. It defines a state much more powerful than that. True empowerment is when we become mature enough to stand up for what is right. It involves enlightenment as to how things are and how they should be. True empowerment is when we are conscious of our actions, and the state of those who are less fortunate. True empowerment instills in us a drive to make the world an inclusive, sustainable place for ourselves and future generations.
The next time you see an ad which aims at empowering you (by making you buy a product), ask yourself whether it really does empower you. Truly empowered people, and I talk here of people our age, don’t get fooled easily, and it’s gonna take a lot more than a couple of lazy snobs trying to be cool on the telly to make them believe in this pseudo empowerment.
I write this post after just seeing another one of Telenor’s ‘Khamoshi ka boycott’ commercial, the one in which the girl starts screaming in the middle of the street and the ‘gundas’ get a message from the society that because of their actions, society is falling into disrepute. Apart from finding this ad hilariously naïve, I fail to register any depth in this and other commercials that are aimed at ‘liberating’ the youth. Telenor wants to liberate the youth from injustice, Jazz liberates the youth through cheap calling rates. Sprite offers solutions for the youth’s problems in its ‘University of Freshology’ series. It seems that the ‘youth’ has replaced ‘customers’ at the bottom (or top, as you see it) of any corporation’s hierarchy. However, instead of actually helping this nation’s youth, companies and advertisers have made them prisoners to the oldest and most important concept in economics: consumption.
But what lead to the emergence of this new priority? I have so far identified only one factor, an idea that was intended for a lot of good, but has now commercialized into one of Pakistan’s biggest advertisement scams: youth empowerment programs. In the previous decade, we have seen a meteoric rise in the number of events that aim at youth empowerment and personal growth. Institutes like the IBA, LUMS, SZABIST, CBM, all had identified the potential these programs had, and this led to the creation of YLES (at LUMS) AIMS, IBLC, etc (at IBA) and the emergence of MUNs (Model United Nations) at almost every reputable institute. These programs provided the youth with a viable platform to showcase their talents, get valuable experience and exposure, and deal with situations they would face in their professional lives.
TV channels and companies, however, saw this as a feasible business opportunity. They then took the concept and twisted it until it suited their own needs. The confident, mature and conscious youth these programs intended to create were then turned into a liberated, careless bunch of spoiled brats whose daily mantra was to consume. Consume cell phone subscriptions, consume soft drinks and consume *product name here*, just because they wanted to. They were liberated to consume. And that is empowerment, isn’t it? The right to consume commodities, maximize utility and be happy?
No. Empowerment doesn’t mean just consumption. It defines a state much more powerful than that. True empowerment is when we become mature enough to stand up for what is right. It involves enlightenment as to how things are and how they should be. True empowerment is when we are conscious of our actions, and the state of those who are less fortunate. True empowerment instills in us a drive to make the world an inclusive, sustainable place for ourselves and future generations.
The next time you see an ad which aims at empowering you (by making you buy a product), ask yourself whether it really does empower you. Truly empowered people, and I talk here of people our age, don’t get fooled easily, and it’s gonna take a lot more than a couple of lazy snobs trying to be cool on the telly to make them believe in this pseudo empowerment.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
V for Veena
Contributed by Salman Ali Khan
Veena Malik sure knows how to stay in the news. Be it through her stints in the reality TV show Big Boss, her bold photo shoot for Indian magazine FHM or for any other scandal that she's gone through throughout her career, this girl sure knows how to stay in the news all the time.
This time around she was in the news for intentionally hurting another cast member, Vedita Pratap Singh, in a fight sequence for the movie 'Mumbai 125km'. In the scene involving the two, Veena had to pull Vedita by the neck and hit her head on an iron rod. Vedita accused Veena of intentionally banging her head hard against the iron rod that resulted in a forehead injury. As was expected Veena Malik denied these claims and refused to have overacted in the scene. Yes Veena, we all believe you. You didn't do the photo shoot either, did you?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
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