Fatima Fang and Holier than thou logic by Kashif Nasir

 

Dramas such as Fatima Fang are frequently produced. All it does is validate the prejudice of a nation (prejudice: a belief not founded in reality). There is 'Veer Zara' on the other side of the border; the roles are obviously reversed, and this has been done multiple times. The idea is that the girl who falls in love or begins to embrace the religious beliefs of the majority must come from the "opposite religion or country" so that the audience can relate to it. Underneath all of this is the subliminal desire to subjugate the religion, culture, and values of the other nation and demonstrate the moral superiority of your own. 

Prior to this Fatima Fang, which is an attempt to improve relations between China and Pakistan, there was "Chaly thay sath," which I did watch because of the stunning Syra Yousef. It involved a Pakistani girl and a Chinese boy falling in love. However, the truth was completely different: Chinese men abducted Pakistani girls from impoverished areas, staged a fictitious marriage ceremony, transported the girls across the border, and later sold them into prostitution. The point is that young, impressionable audiences are particularly susceptible to this kind of subtle media propaganda. 

Additionally, there is the show "Kabli Pulao," which is clearly about the sexual conquest of Afghani women. And how kindly and benign Pakistan is in comparison to Afghanistan. Perhaps I am going too far since they have become "nikkah-fied." The boys (who shall not be named) are said to own the green television. When Bibi (Benazir Bhutto) came to power, the martial law authorities reluctantly agreed to hand over power. They told Bibi she could do anything but interfere in foreign policy, and Afghanistan is a critical component of our Afghan policy. I think Fatima Feng is running from this channel too. 

Aside from all these shitshows, there was a show called "Main Abdul Qadir hun," in which Fahad Mustafa played the main character, and it had a familiar character arc, involving a playboy who becomes a namazi (hy it happens). Theory was that it was based on Junaid Jamshed's life or inspired from it. Although I obviously disagree with some of J.J.'s later remarks, I still have the utmost respect for him. He was definitely a man who followed his heart.  

People have occasionally claimed that these cross-border narratives aim to strengthen ties between the countries. I disagree. If that is the case, then why is it that the guy is always the one pursuing a sexual relationship with a woman from an adversary nation? 

Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijan, which was a really fantastic movie with very little to complain about, is, I believe, the one exception. However, our neighbour has recently elevated the propaganda to a completely new level. In fact, they have named it "Love-Jihad." There is a film called "Kerala Story." This demonstrates how women are converted to religion and then used. The neighbour portrays it as a massive conspiracy. I have not seen it yet, and I doubt I will. 

Abbas plays Anti Israel card for election manipulation 

“Terrorism is a political weapon and media is the right arm of anarchy.”

(Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons)

Opinion

 “Terrorism is a political weapon and media is the right arm of anarchy.” Say’s Dan Brown is his novel.

There are a lot of articles and videos peddling on the media right now. But there is another way, a saner way to look at the present Israel-Palestine conflict. The media’s whole ammo is to manipulate people’s emotions by painting the whole scenario into a crusade, which it really isn’t.

It’s simply a misdirection created by the Palestinian political party Fatah.

Remember the Abhi Nandan Scenario, the escalation on LOC right before Modi’s elections. It was a political stunt and Modi did win the election.

Anti Pakistan card is played in India, similarly, Anti Israel card is being played in Palestine.

Read the quotation below

“Itamar Marcus, director of PMW, commented: “The timing of this latest terror wave initiated by Mahmoud Abbas is not at all surprising. After canceling the Palestinian elections because his Fatah party faced a certain defeat, Abbas was at his lowest popularity ever with no legitimacy to continue ruling. He was desperate to redirect Palestinian wrath from him to Israel.

 

“So, as he has done in the past, Abbas artificially created a crisis over Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestinians are going out to fight and attack Israelis in the name of protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but the only one they are protecting is Mahmoud Abbas from impending political demise.”

Abbas’s excuse for delaying the elections is that Isreal isn’t allowing East Jerusalem to participate in the elections. The quotation below will prove that is not the case.

“He said the elections would be postponed "until the participation of our people in Jerusalem is guaranteed."

 

“But many Palestinians regarded the Jerusalem issue as an excuse to avoid elections that Fatah might well lose to its Islamist rivals Hamas, as it did in the last parliamentary ballot in 2006.

 

The delay drew immediate criticism from opponents and from would-be voters - no Palestinian under 34 has taken part in national elections.” (Reuters)

What we are seeing right now in Israel is not religion, we are seeing politics. we are seeing how easily people can be manipulated by media and politicians. 

As Dan Brown said. “Terrorism is a political weapon and media is the right arm of anarchy.”

 

 

 

Man's search for meaning by Victor E Frankl, 8 Questions with Kashif Nasir

23rd March 2020, what are we celebrating?

23rd March 2020, what are we celebrating?

The IMF loans, The supposedly rigged election, the inflation, the forced disappearances, the teachers on strike, the young doctors on strike, the increasing number of youth who wants to flee the country, the joblessness, the pollution, the corruption, the suicides, the forced conversions, the sons of military men who are harassing the civilians, the Panama scandal or the papa john’s pizza scandal?
Oh sorry, it’s about the war machines show, the patriotic songs and the banners, right.

Please tell me when was the last time a tank was used? In 1965 war, or 1971 war, anyway it was more than fifty years ago.

During the last fifty years we haven’t used a tank. We haven’t used any weapon because we had no wars. The Siachen and Kargil conflict, minor conflicts compared to the full blown wars.

For fifty years these things have been kept in store rooms. They have served no purpose.

George Orwell says in his novel 1984. The question was how to keep the industry’s wheels turning without increasing the standard of living. In a world where everyone had a car and his own house the major difference between social classes would already disappear.

The answer is spending the energy and money on a floating fortress (any sort of military weapon). It serves no purpose but to waste the surplus of the industry, which if used properly would increase the standard of living of the masses. Which eventually would cause the annihilation of the class pyramid.

The only use for floating fortress is to break it down and later remake a bigger floating fortress. Endlessly waste the surplus of industry.

Orwell also predicts that there will be no more wars. The conflicting powers have reached a power balance. With modern day weapons, if it came to war all of them will be destroyed.

Yet they keep collecting weapons waiting for that fateful moment when they will get the opportunity to strike first and destroy the enemy country so completely that they will not be able to retaliate.

Nationalism, an absolute idea

Nationalism is a tribal idea: “My tribe is better than yours”
The idea has its root in pride one of the greatest human vices.
Where is the evidence that one tribe could be better than the other?
Nationalism or patriotism might have worked in past. But this idea is based on competition and world needs cooperation. Remember in the age of industrialization Britain, Spain, Rome and other powers competed for raw materials. Which lead to colonization, No good can come out of competition. Haven’t we learned anything from history?

Imagine, instead of competing if India and Pakistan cooperated. Easier trade, easier travel, less investment in weapons more money to spend on health and education.
Patriotism is cashed in political rallies. Anti-Pakistan stance sells in India and Anti-India stance in Pakistan. The citizens don’t hate each other. The politicians gain votes by selling patriotism.
There is only one department which benefits from war. Nobody else wants it.

Foreign policy

When Benazir came in to power. She was told that she won’t interfere in the foreign policy.

The foreign policy on both sides of the border is designed by you-know-who. Pakistan and India both had weak democratic governments from the start. You know what happened to the founding fathers, Gandhi was shot, Liaqat Ali Khan was shot, Nehru died of heart attack, Fatima Jinnah was labeled traitor by you-know-who.

When foreign policy is being designed by a certain institute, that institute will make sure of its own privileges.
Pakistan and India cannot reach peace until the foreign policy comes in to the hands of democratic governments.

Man’s search for meaning ten questions with Kashif Nasir

Man’s search for meaning ten questions with Kashif Nasir


Have I found the meaning of my life?

You see in the book, professor victor is looking back at his memories of his imprisonment in the Nazi camp. It is later he realizes that he has found meaning in his experience.
Similarly I can say that I too have found meaning in my experiences, my close friends are aware of my history, some internet friends also know my problem.
Anyway, People tell me that I am a good listener or I am kind. I think that, what I am today is because of my past my experience, so to answer the question. Indeed I have found a meaning, in words of Parveen Shakir,
Bin aqs ainay ka hunr b na khul ska,
Gham k baghair qlb o nazr ko jila kahan,
I have found the meaning that suffering makes one kinder and wiser, it builds character. But some may say I have avoided the question, So I would say the meaning of my life is I have realized is to accept a reality but still live with dignity to carry the cross without complain.

Has the book convinced me?
Yes it has, but let me answer why it has convinced me.
Man’s search for meaning is not your ordinary self help book. Professor victor isn’t selling cheap impractical formula for something that is advertised as “success”.
Professor victor has in fact suffered; he has suffered in Nazi concentrations camp. So when he says that he has found meaning in his suffering I believe him. I think it was Emerson who said, “What you are screams so loudly in my ears that I cannot hear what you say” and that’s true for professors Victor one can simply be convinced by his life story.

What would I say if someone asked what is the meaning of their life?
It’s a difficult question to answer because each individual is unique and meaning of life would be different for everyone. But if someone asked me, what would be the meaning of their life, I would tell them that stop asking this question, meaning of life is like happiness you cannot chase it, you cannot force it, it must follow as a consequence like Professor Victor says in the book. Happiness is consequence of something you enjoy, similarly your meaning of life also would be consequence of your everyday life experiences, just try to understand your life and the meaning will be revealed to you.

Why was I unable to finish the book?
Talha brother is a very nice person, but generally speaking why one isn’t able to get in to a book. May be the time isn’t right? Maybe you presently can’t relate to the subject, may be the book will speak to you in future, Man’s search for meaning is a book for people who are looking for answers, it also possible that the answer you are seeking might not be in this book.

Who would you recommend this book and why?

Recommending a book is always risky, people question your intentions, you recommend this book to someone, and first thing they will ask you “do you think I am suicidal?”

Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone who has become tired of their everyday routine, anyone who wonders, at the end of the week, or month or year, that what’s the point of all this, why am I doing this, it doesn’t even matters,

As to why I would recommend it is because

This book has enough logic to create doubt, it can influence your perspective, so where once you saw futility, you might see hope, you just might stop being unhappy.

Why haven’t I committed suicide yet?

Anyway I am going to answer the question because I think it will benefit many people.
I think all of us have considered it at a certain time. Personally I wouldn’t do it because my parents won’t be able to deal with it.
Which brings to professor victor’s point, listen to this carefully it might help a lot of people. There are two point professors victor makes.

He asks his suicidal patients why haven’t they committed suicide yet, eventually his patients reveal something that’s precious to them, it could be a child, it could be a project, and basically it is something which needs that person in order to exist. There is someone who needs you, there is a project a book or something only you can write only you can finish and that’s why you shouldn’t do it.
Which brings me to Professor Victor’s second point
In second point he questions people who had failed suicide attempts. And these people according to professor tell him that they are very thankful that they failed.
The point is suicide results from a lack of options in a certain situation, but the thing is in future the situation might change, but in order for you to see that new situation those change circumstances you must leave to see that day.

How has this book helped me overcome my existential crises?

An existential crisis is the biggest problem of our generation. it has its roots in automation, all our work is automated, so we are having more and more free time, and we have no idea what to do with it.
Secondly there are busy people who also experience existential crises. An existential crisis is caused by finding no meaning in one’s life.

Personally in this book professor victor suggests three ways to overcome existential crises is
1) Loving someone unconditionally,
2) Finding meaning in your suffering
3) Dedicating yourself to something.

For me it is literature, I have a channel when I think my opinion might help humanity I post, I have a blog, when I feel inspired I land a poem, I am working with a magazine and all this has made a lot of difference. So I think I used the third option from professor victor’s book.

How has the book changed my life?

This book has created doubt in my life theory, I was influenced by Richard Dawkin’s selfish gene, a book which tells you human beings are survival machines, that we are controlled by multi cellular organisms, that we have no will and our bodies are merely vehicles survival machines for those organisms.
People have lost sleep after reading this book.
But man’s search for meaning shifted my perspective from nihilism, this book convinced me that man actions matter, so in past I was resigned to life but now I feel myself involved. My actions matter. My behavior affects people.

What’s the inner hold which determines people’s actions in pressure situations?

It’s a big question, what determines our actions in a certain situation, logically it’s mostly emotion and instinct, why people act the way they act? I can’t answer this, I don’t know, I guess you will have to read the book to find out, or maybe observe the people around you, but most importantly observe your actions, why you did what you did, and you will realize most of the actions came from instinct of self preservation.

IS FREE VERSE, KILLING POETRY ?

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more.”

(The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe)

The crux of the problem in poetry today is the free verse structure. It has enabled everyone to write. There are practically no rules to follow. One simply has to write down sentences and string them together.

Others are deliberately using bigger words to seem like they actually have something to say.

The point is poetry with rhyme is difficult to master, it’s more difficult when you are just not stringing words together. But free verse has removed all difficulties and if there are no difficulties there is no point. Anybody can do it.

Look at some good poetry. The Raven by Poe, one of the most read poems ever. The underlying composition is almost mathematically accurate. The reason the poem is so popular is because it rhymes , it sounds so good to ears.once you start reading it you cannot stop yourself. Like modern day advertisement jingles, the reason they are so catchy, that they embed themselves in to our memory that try as hard as we can we can never remove them. For example the energic candy commercial. “Ik makhloq ajeeb o ghareeb urn tishtri main ai”. The single sentence triggers the whole song.

Rhyme matters. There is a lot of history behind it. I already told you about Poe. How about Shakespeare , Homer ? the giants . Their sonnets, epics, all of them rhyme. Besides that they sound good, rhymes were also necessary. For example below is a passage from one of Shakespeare sonnets.

“Nay if you read this verse,

Remember not the hand that writ it,

For I love you so,

For I in your sweet thoughts would be forgotten,

If thinking on me then should make you woe.”

See how easy it is to remember. I can recall the whole thing.

In Homer’s day, epics were told orally. Rhyme made it easier to remember 500 verses long epics, rhyme also gave the performer the ability to pause and recall and sometimes improvise. Without rhyme poetry just wouldn’t have survived.

Which leads me to the question why are people avoiding rhyme ? It has been avoided so much it is practically dying now. My question is what’s the difference between a prose sentence , and a sentence in poem which is not rhyming ? The answer: no difference at all. One can lift sentences from prose then present them as a free verse poem.

It has been said that all literature’s point is to guide, but poetry pleases while it guides. Without rhyme there is barely any pleasure left.

I request all the new writers please think about it. Please do the difficult thing. It will help you grow as a writer. The genre is dying. We owe it to Homer, to Shakespeare, to Poe and all the greats in whom footsteps we follow. We cannot shirk from our responsibility. We cannot always do the easy thing.

I want you to read The Raven, if you haven’t already and compare it with any free verse piece and ask yourself which one will you give to a child. ask yourself which one will please a child more ? then ask yourself what are you adding to literature ? what do you want to leave behind ?

I leave you with another passage from Poe's The Raven.

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Nameless here for evermore."

Gone Girl: A love letter for Amazing Amy

Gone Girl is such an amazing book. For years and years, I have been waiting for a book; a movie, where the bad guys win.
Every single time I see the good guys win, with their capes flying, with their cheesy smirks, and hopelessly predictable one-liners, something dies in me. 

Let the bad guys win for once just let the bad guys win. I scream.

And I go back into my man cave, and I wonder why can’t there be a story where the bad guys win, why is it always the same old? The criminal gets caught story? Why can’t there be a criminal who is smarter than the detective? Why can’t there just be a perfect crime?

Why, why Gooooood?

I read this story and I think Amy has taken a part of my heart. She’s the one who got away (literally). I will always be in love with her. Every woman I meet will be outshone in the brilliant blinding light of Amazing Amy. They will wonder why it’s not working, they just wouldn’t know I want them to frame me for their murder. fuck my life up.

Reading all those detective stories, thinking hoping maybe this time, maybe, just maybe, but no every single time, Holmes and that awful Hercule always two steps ahead of the criminal. Always catching them. Elementary my dear Watson.

Sighs.

Finally, the gone girl did it for me, yeah a win for the bad guys, choke on it.

The way she planned it, all those little details, the patience, the self-sacrifice, (she did kill herself), and that pretending to be a really sweet innocent girl while you are a criminal mastermind, Amy would give even Holmes a hard chase. Holmes may be a winner in his story but Amy is the winner in this one.

I just want to say Amy if you are out there. If you know you can. Just know that I will let you frame me for your murder, it’s from the bottom of my heart.No I won’t make it easy. It will be just you and me. You trying to frame me for your murder, me trying to prove my innocence. Me always figuring out little holes in your story, you always improvising and endless series of plot twists. It will be perfect. So romantic.

Catch 22: read it and you will never be the same again

Catch 22 cover

C

atch 22, is the kind of book, that once you finish reading it, it destroys a lot of things, first thing it destroys is your taste in books, because it really raises the bar very high, so ordinary books will no longer suffice. You will have to find something disturbing, bizarre and utterly amazing, because this is exactly what this book is, it belongs on the shelf with Brave new world and 1984, except it’s more entertaining than 1984.

It destroys your faith in military, patriotism or any such notions, not because these are bad values, but because it exposes how incompetent and selfish men have exploited these notions for their own greed, and honest soldiers like Yossarian end up paying the price.

Yossarian is the anti-hero, he is always trying to run away from war, he is always pretending to be sick, so he won’t have to fly more missions, the generals are shown as complete imbeciles, who have no idea how to fight a war, so they never really plan anything, they just do things to spite each other, or gain superiority over each other and the men below them have to bear the burden of their follies.

As the novel progresses, lot of Yossarian’s friends die horrible, gruesome deaths, there is one scene which haunts me, it’s on the beach, where a soldier flies his plan on very low altitude, one of the young soldiers in the water, jumps up to touch the plane, except he gets caught in the fan, he dies instantly, and the soldiers who was flying the plane, is filled with so much remorse that he waves a last salute and flies his plane in to the mountain.

There is a doctor, he is a complainer, he does nothing for the soldiers, whenever a soldier complains of being sick, the doctor starts narrating his long list of, “you think that’s bad, what about me?”

There is a syndicate and everyone has a share.
Much more can be said about the book, all in all. I wholly recommend this to any serious reader, I won’t say much about it now, and frankly I don’t want to spoil it for you by adding a synopsis. Instead I will share some of my favorite quotes from the novel.

If you enjoyed reading this, thanks for your time, if you want me to do other books feel free to comment

Gerald’s game, Stephen King; a review.

It’s one of the good ones, I don’t want to talk about the plot or synopsis, I just want to talk about what this books makes me feel or what my thoughts are about it.

My first feeling is disgust, it’s one of the dominant feelings in this book.I am disgusted by the nature of relationship between the girl and her father. I am disgusted by the dog aka the former prince. I can say the book only gets good, if that’s the right word to use, at the very end.

The antics and misadventures of Joubert are interesting to me; in a creepy sort of way. They give the book depth, without him the book is rather shallow or superficial. I think the only reason Jessie, survives her encounter with this sick necrophiliac probably because

A)    She was a woman

B)    She wasn’t dead.

Because this guy is in to dead people and mostly males. Now I am not sure if this character is based on some real killer, like in Peter Straub’s lost boy lost girl,the killer is actually based on H.H Holmes who was in fact a serial killer. But King is at his very best in making up this character with most intricate details, Joubert jumps at you from the paper and you can’t stop reading about him.

Joubert has a medical condition in which his pituitary gland keeps shooting juice, so his hands, arms, feet, forehead keep growing while rest of his body has stopped growing, so he is disproportionate, like a bad sketch made by a kid. He has been in and out of mental institutions, he has been having fun with animals or sometimes young Boys, he is deranged, twisted, sick pervert anything you name it, this guy’s it, he has been there, he has done that.

He has a “collection”, at home, what he refers to as “my things”, they are mostly, eye balls, penises (he is obsessed with those) legs, noses, and other body parts.

He has eaten up his mommy and daddy as well. He specially delights in snacking on tongue sandwiches. It would unfair not to mention that Joubert was sexually abused as a kid, mostly by his own parents. Evil breeds evil.

Now to make the long review short. If there was a moral to this story. It would be this: face your fears.

Jessie did, because in the end she is a traumatized woman. She is afraid that Joubert is still there. That any minute he would jump from behind a curtain or from under the bed.

So at Joubert’s hearing, she goes there to face him. He recognizes her and mocks her, for a few seconds she is afraid, then she gathers up her courage in spits in his face.