Saturday, January 14, 2012
Godless girls: Hate-speech
Godless girls: Hate-speech: Language seems to be taking one by the nerve, not just through communication medium, but by the rhetoric ensuing one's emotional dictum. Hat...
Hate-speech
Language seems to be taking one by the nerve, not just through communication medium, but by the rhetoric ensuing one's emotional dictum. Hate speech is the most subtle form of acceptance when we have internalised our judgemental fervour against a specific person/group or ideology that doesn't fundamentally conform to the mainstream unless, of course, it is unnaturally subject to forced evolution through timid, cautious and calculated expressions. What is more painful, is that in our routine language, many things often slip by without ourselves even realising that it has all the attributes of aggressive bigotry, and even, suggestive violence. To explain it in clear terms, the subsequent denial of calling it bigotry is just plain tragic.
The dilemma has been whether language is taking shape through behaviourism or if attitudes are instilled and reinforced through language? It is strange to see how the successive years have transformed our language, and how over the years has Urdu become more authoritarian. With the advent of modern technology, gadgetry and fast communication tools, we have also witnessed how quickly a message is spread about something in a mixture of short words that have overtaken the rich verbal utility of poetry that was once used in routine. We have lost the soft side. We have become hard-borne in language, and try to keep it as simple as we can less diplomatically. This has been taken by a craze, especially among the urban youth here in Pakistan that have grown up in disdainful educational discourse that has hardly taught anything productive over the years, apart from permeating discrimination within a society that has marked the communities as "kafirs" and "Muslims". (Read Tariq Rehman's paper on Education Policy http://www.tariqrahman.net/educa/Education%20Policies%20in%20Pakistan.htm)
With the mindset that has become prevalent in our youth (including myself before my first incident of religious hate-speech abroad). In my daily work routine, I happen to come across several text messages meant to demean persons belonging to marginalised communities, listen to casual comments praising and justifying jihad, even remaining either indifferent or approving the attacks on Religious Minorities. All this happening in a typical office in Punjab, fairly considered a religiously moderate institution.
If an attempt is made to reason out with them,you feel intimidated by their reaction. As an example, must I add how I once observed the word Sahib deliberately omitted from Nankana Sahib, because Sahib attributes respect here to the person of Hazrat Guru Nanak, a reverend figure founding the principles of Sikhism. In another instance, I noticed how a colleague flaunted a joke about "filthy" lifestyles of Hindus. All this, which they refuse to accept hate speech unless told and pointed out otherwise. Because majority belong to the powerful and socially safe mainstream, they are not fully exposed to the discrimination our vulnerable communities are faced with. They lack a sense of relativity to their plight, while they stand vehemently against the citizenship rights of minorities of Pakistan.
Criticism of this status quo always generates interesting verbosity of abuse and bad English. I wrote this long ago after a long, tedious year of talking about hate speech and how it destroys ourselves. On line forums are the primary source of capturing the very essence of how it all goes generally
Enjoy and relate this to your own experience.
A very normal discussion in a chatroom
hotsexy4u: To be united, you cant all be a Punjabi or a Sindhi or a Balochi or a Pakhtun, but we can all be united as Muslims, So lets do it :)
pakiidrunkpunk: Well said, Mashallah!
zeeburkini: sorry, but i find this comment rude and thoughtless. If there's anything that we really need, then it's trying to be be good citizens of this godamned country. Imagine the irony a non-muslim pakistani citizen faces after reading such calls for "unity"? would you like the same too if state declared that you cannot be a part of it unless you're a buddhist? imagine what a christian 5th grader actually has to go through here when made to learn the Muslim Kalima which is subliminally humiliating for his faith? Can we even relate to that, being in the majority?
Hawtrockz: did u readed ALL about Islam? you would not be writing diz. Islam is completed for itself and for da hole humanity. STOP BASHING OUR RELIGION. it already teaches us humanity. no need for your agenda here!
pakiidrunkpunk: Hawtrockz, i'm completely agreed wid u. Jazakaullah!
Hawtrockz: Oh TRUST me! I know dese western wannabes very well. Dey're the ones responsible 4 deztroying our youth.
peacetrain: I jus wanna kill diz BASTARD! and ANYONE WHO SAYS DA BAAD THINGS AGAINST ISLAM!!!!
pakiidrunkpunk: very brave brother! M wid u. TEACH WHAT ISLAM REALLY MEANS! PEACE PLZ! only u can do it!
hotsexy4u: SHAME ON YOU zeeburqini. say sorry!
hawtrockz: yeah, say it. U *(* Harami #4%6 &* %%68 *&&%#$ kay (**&%^^%*!!!!!! and BURN IN HELL!
pakiidrunkpunk: M completely agreed wid u sister hotsexy. Say sorry zeeburqini!
"zeeburqini has left the room"
The dilemma has been whether language is taking shape through behaviourism or if attitudes are instilled and reinforced through language? It is strange to see how the successive years have transformed our language, and how over the years has Urdu become more authoritarian. With the advent of modern technology, gadgetry and fast communication tools, we have also witnessed how quickly a message is spread about something in a mixture of short words that have overtaken the rich verbal utility of poetry that was once used in routine. We have lost the soft side. We have become hard-borne in language, and try to keep it as simple as we can less diplomatically. This has been taken by a craze, especially among the urban youth here in Pakistan that have grown up in disdainful educational discourse that has hardly taught anything productive over the years, apart from permeating discrimination within a society that has marked the communities as "kafirs" and "Muslims". (Read Tariq Rehman's paper on Education Policy http://www.tariqrahman.net/educa/Education%20Policies%20in%20Pakistan.htm)
With the mindset that has become prevalent in our youth (including myself before my first incident of religious hate-speech abroad). In my daily work routine, I happen to come across several text messages meant to demean persons belonging to marginalised communities, listen to casual comments praising and justifying jihad, even remaining either indifferent or approving the attacks on Religious Minorities. All this happening in a typical office in Punjab, fairly considered a religiously moderate institution.
If an attempt is made to reason out with them,you feel intimidated by their reaction. As an example, must I add how I once observed the word Sahib deliberately omitted from Nankana Sahib, because Sahib attributes respect here to the person of Hazrat Guru Nanak, a reverend figure founding the principles of Sikhism. In another instance, I noticed how a colleague flaunted a joke about "filthy" lifestyles of Hindus. All this, which they refuse to accept hate speech unless told and pointed out otherwise. Because majority belong to the powerful and socially safe mainstream, they are not fully exposed to the discrimination our vulnerable communities are faced with. They lack a sense of relativity to their plight, while they stand vehemently against the citizenship rights of minorities of Pakistan.
Criticism of this status quo always generates interesting verbosity of abuse and bad English. I wrote this long ago after a long, tedious year of talking about hate speech and how it destroys ourselves. On line forums are the primary source of capturing the very essence of how it all goes generally
Enjoy and relate this to your own experience.
A very normal discussion in a chatroom
hotsexy4u: To be united, you cant all be a Punjabi or a Sindhi or a Balochi or a Pakhtun, but we can all be united as Muslims, So lets do it :)
pakiidrunkpunk: Well said, Mashallah!
zeeburkini: sorry, but i find this comment rude and thoughtless. If there's anything that we really need, then it's trying to be be good citizens of this godamned country. Imagine the irony a non-muslim pakistani citizen faces after reading such calls for "unity"? would you like the same too if state declared that you cannot be a part of it unless you're a buddhist? imagine what a christian 5th grader actually has to go through here when made to learn the Muslim Kalima which is subliminally humiliating for his faith? Can we even relate to that, being in the majority?
Hawtrockz: did u readed ALL about Islam? you would not be writing diz. Islam is completed for itself and for da hole humanity. STOP BASHING OUR RELIGION. it already teaches us humanity. no need for your agenda here!
pakiidrunkpunk: Hawtrockz, i'm completely agreed wid u. Jazakaullah!
Hawtrockz: Oh TRUST me! I know dese western wannabes very well. Dey're the ones responsible 4 deztroying our youth.
peacetrain: I jus wanna kill diz BASTARD! and ANYONE WHO SAYS DA BAAD THINGS AGAINST ISLAM!!!!
pakiidrunkpunk: very brave brother! M wid u. TEACH WHAT ISLAM REALLY MEANS! PEACE PLZ! only u can do it!
hotsexy4u: SHAME ON YOU zeeburqini. say sorry!
hawtrockz: yeah, say it. U *(* Harami #4%6 &* %%68 *&&%#$ kay (**&%^^%*!!!!!! and BURN IN HELL!
pakiidrunkpunk: M completely agreed wid u sister hotsexy. Say sorry zeeburqini!
"zeeburqini has left the room"
Friday, January 13, 2012
Suffocation
Swimming in the suffocating sea,
I am coerced into my survival,
to go with the flow
to follow my school
set on the precedent of fear.
my muffled voice raised in air bubbles
hardly reached the surface.
invisible to you, but to me the soul
flaunts itself, weightless
as it can carry no mass.
What I thought was my voice
was really an unwelcomed noise.
they forced the creed out of my substance
and let them pollute my conscience
with subtle tyranny.
I gave in. My oppresive death is easy to accept
than lurking restless spirit.
Zeeba T. Hashmi
26th January, 2011
Lahore
(dedicated to Neeli, and myself).
I am coerced into my survival,
to go with the flow
to follow my school
set on the precedent of fear.
my muffled voice raised in air bubbles
hardly reached the surface.
invisible to you, but to me the soul
flaunts itself, weightless
as it can carry no mass.
What I thought was my voice
was really an unwelcomed noise.
they forced the creed out of my substance
and let them pollute my conscience
with subtle tyranny.
I gave in. My oppresive death is easy to accept
than lurking restless spirit.
Zeeba T. Hashmi
26th January, 2011
Lahore
(dedicated to Neeli, and myself).
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Exploiters and the Faithful:
This is about the illusions we create about our shaky existence in a world that demands conformity to homogeneous institution we know as religion. With variation in human perceptions, to consider somebody's lie as an absolute truth and legislate non-compliance as a punishable crime rapes freedom, individuality and soul of all those who refuse to subscribe to such unnatural bidding. There is no peace. There is just open confrontations, chaos, revenge and perhaps, bloodshed.
Perception of any god/s, comes with associations. They can't be perceived without an idea of personal revenge. And to link this personal revenge with universality have been, as has been seen throughout history, successively tragic for civilizations. This can be blamed on primary denial of how god is actually a creation of our mind. What he universally wants to be depicted as, especially because of his powers to grant punishment and reward, as our absolute truth. Absolutism is delusional, and in a way sadist to the very human understanding that desires simplicity, but needs deliberate vagueness to ensure convenient suitability. But when this ambiguity is implied as divinity, it only suits a particular influential class who lobby into mainstream to dictate their needs to be fulfilled through certain hegemonic control. Yes, in a way, humans themselves are gods, and they have always transgressed each others liberties to show competition and power, to exploit the weak (the weak are actually the ones who claim to be stronger in their faith—because for them strict adherence and containment within religious constraints is crucial to ensure their loyalty). It is but a power play between the weak and the strong (those who know how to manipulate sanctimonious fear of the weak and use them rather as puppets for their advantage)
Divisions, bigotry and control:
But then again, what is it that keeps us apart? What about those who don’t want to remain in any of the domain belonging to the exploiters and the exploited decreed through man-made laws in the land controlled for gains? There are narratives set for those who pose as a challenge to such authority, merely by their very existence. You walk to a typical office in Lahore and witness how indifferently you are to behave when majority of workforce share demeaning jokes about religious minorities here. So many incidents have we come across of murder, rape, public lynching, arson, land seizures, alleging serious charges of blasphemy and forced conversions to a religion? What about the linguistics that have shaped itself to new bigoted annotations that call for alienation and complete subjugation of those who do not confer to the mainstream religion. With militants allowed to band together to be used as proxies against the vulnerable to entertain their far-fetched goals? How do we relate our loyalty if we start bringing less people friendly contexts that define to serve loyalty to the institution more?
Perception of any god/s, comes with associations. They can't be perceived without an idea of personal revenge. And to link this personal revenge with universality have been, as has been seen throughout history, successively tragic for civilizations. This can be blamed on primary denial of how god is actually a creation of our mind. What he universally wants to be depicted as, especially because of his powers to grant punishment and reward, as our absolute truth. Absolutism is delusional, and in a way sadist to the very human understanding that desires simplicity, but needs deliberate vagueness to ensure convenient suitability. But when this ambiguity is implied as divinity, it only suits a particular influential class who lobby into mainstream to dictate their needs to be fulfilled through certain hegemonic control. Yes, in a way, humans themselves are gods, and they have always transgressed each others liberties to show competition and power, to exploit the weak (the weak are actually the ones who claim to be stronger in their faith—because for them strict adherence and containment within religious constraints is crucial to ensure their loyalty). It is but a power play between the weak and the strong (those who know how to manipulate sanctimonious fear of the weak and use them rather as puppets for their advantage)
Divisions, bigotry and control:
But then again, what is it that keeps us apart? What about those who don’t want to remain in any of the domain belonging to the exploiters and the exploited decreed through man-made laws in the land controlled for gains? There are narratives set for those who pose as a challenge to such authority, merely by their very existence. You walk to a typical office in Lahore and witness how indifferently you are to behave when majority of workforce share demeaning jokes about religious minorities here. So many incidents have we come across of murder, rape, public lynching, arson, land seizures, alleging serious charges of blasphemy and forced conversions to a religion? What about the linguistics that have shaped itself to new bigoted annotations that call for alienation and complete subjugation of those who do not confer to the mainstream religion. With militants allowed to band together to be used as proxies against the vulnerable to entertain their far-fetched goals? How do we relate our loyalty if we start bringing less people friendly contexts that define to serve loyalty to the institution more?
Psychological denial of our creed.
My story begins with love. It gets complicated with love springing up into different meanings, conjuring its different dimensions. I was sure it to be eternal, but the fluidity of love knows no such bounds and cannot be constraint by any threshold of a bank. A flood of gushing water that erases everything which comes its way is not merciful nor can it be known for remaining constant with ebbing flow. It follows its own course, sometimes it is subtle, other times it is forceful. I can smell it, touch it, and feel it. Even though it is not claiming me as an adherent, but I start worshiping it because of its fierceness. There is something more divine about fear and beauty ensuing it. I was, and still am, mesmerized by its magnanimity which is beyond my comprehension. Another side of me I cannot relate to. Schizophrenia? Nay, simple polemics of irrationality that we acknowledge. Irrationality cannot be a mental sickness, but not being able to recognize oppression and tyranny is. I only became an apostate when I realized the stronger emotion of hate that came as a controlling factor of my life more than my love. My story is no different than anybody's. We have serious introspects, often times deviant attitudes to define what we know and want to express with simplicity, but are conditioned helplessly to behave against our creed; to deny our convictions; to remain schizophrenic; to lie.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
What makes us alive?
The scent of blood?
revenge?
the march for madness?
mantras never heard before?
hate? devastation? our animal creed in praising
a human-sacrifse-obsessed god?
heros! ghazis! we all are.
what makes us dead?
a cry of hope?
sanity?
respect for life?
an appeal for coexistence? dignity? peace?
unanimity in love?
Blasphemers! Murtids we all are!
revenge?
the march for madness?
mantras never heard before?
hate? devastation? our animal creed in praising
a human-sacrifse-obsessed god?
heros! ghazis! we all are.
what makes us dead?
a cry of hope?
sanity?
respect for life?
an appeal for coexistence? dignity? peace?
unanimity in love?
Blasphemers! Murtids we all are!
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