A nation addicted to pain

 

 

 

"Hate-mongers play a central role in our electronic and print media and have a vast following online. They spread their hatred based on half-cooked conspiracy theories"
Addiction can be vaguely described as a persistent and compulsive dependence on a substance or behaviour. Pain on the other hand can be defined as an unpleasant physical and psychological sensation, which can range from mild and localised discomfort to agony. The word pain originates from Latin, where poena means a fine or penalty.

What does this have to do with us? When you put the two together, it seems to highlight clearly our current state of affairs. As a nation, we have repeatedly over the years indulged in compulsive acts of self-inflicted harm, each time increasing the intensity of it, so that we get more ‘buzz from every hit.’ We cannot live without this pain and we seem to continue harbouring this behaviour despite the knowledge of the harm that comes from it. When we do not have any sensational or harmful event going on, we become concerned and agitated, showing signs of withdrawal and to have an immediate relief from these symptoms we cook up bizarre and erratic conspiracy theories to calm down and satisfy our spasmodic brain. Such behaviour carries the hallmark of a ‘dependence syndrome’.
Because of this dependence, we need pain to survive and wake ourselves up every morning pushing to function barely, only to realise that soon the effect wears off and we would need another dose just to avoid slipping into an impassive slumber. If we analyse the current political, economic and social climate of Pakistan, it seems we have been here before many times, with each successive episode being worse than the previous one. We remain confused as a nation, having not even agreed on the type and form of governance we prefer. When there is civilian autocracy (aka democracy) we yearn for a dictatorship and once we get what we wish for, some years later, we pour out on the streets like bloodthirsty vampires demanding a return to the status quo. We praise ad nauseam a faith-based system in a neighbouring war-torn deprived country, but when it raises its ugly head in our country, we shiver with fear. As we continue to lead our daily mundane lives in the current system, no opportunity is passed without blaming the ‘Satan-inspired’ way of life for our daily troubles and sporadic but regular catastrophes. The sooner we put an end to all this confusion the better it is for us. Generally, religion should not become solely a state affair and be used to gain popularity by elected and unelected individuals. Faith should not be used by the media to improve their ratings, earn profits or provide cheap entertainment by showing live televised conversions. Minorities should cease to be minorities as per Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s vision for Pakistan. Ideologies should not be used to guide democracy. They should remain a part of political manifestos. A democratic process and setup should be robust enough to filter out the undemocratic aspect of ideologies if they do manage to come to power.

But the question remains, how do we inflict pain on ourselves? Any action that leads to the deliberate disruption of society can be considered as harm to self. A street protest against others, becoming violent and aggressive, leading to destruction of our own assets, is a common example. Most politicians have a divisive agenda with short-term gains. Hence they start riding the popular bandwagon, when actually they should step back and try to make sense of the whole situation before resorting to fuelling the emotional rhetoric. We further damage ourselves by teaching our children distorted historical facts through our textbooks, creating a whole generation that is incapable of free thinking, which follows a national narrative when it comes to understanding our neighbours and the world around us. We dislike being stereotyped but love to stereotype others. Hate-mongers play a central role in our electronic and print media and have a vast following online. They spread their hatred based on half-cooked conspiracy theories and circumstantial facts and anyone challenging their claims is either labelled as an unpatriotic traitor or literally ‘taught a lesson or two’.
Apart from the general populace, our national institutions also confound the problem. Any institution, when given power and supported by the masses, starts behaving like an uncontrolled venomous snake that starts stinging everything around it, only to realise later on that the behaviour only leads to a destruction of its own habitat. Emotional rhetoric should not be used to guide our domestic and international policies and neither should it be used by our institutions to pass important landmark bills and/or judgements. There should be a debate reaching some consensus before important decisions are made. Corruption and nepotism plague us all, including our institutions, from parliament to the judiciary to the security establishment. This remains the biggest cause of harm to us. We all like to change the world around us but struggle to change ourselves as the first step.

We should focus on our strengths and abilities. We are a very philanthropic nation. Not many countries can boast free charitable organisations that range from education to health and much more. We need to be patient and let the system (whichever we choose it to be) take its due course. Government and the people need to focus on essential elements and prioritise our resources on things that will guarantee our survival in the long run. The following three things should be developed aggressively and should remain on the government’s agenda regardless of who comes to power: education, communication and health. Once we have created inroads in these three domains we can then start restructuring the economy. Once we achieve a position in the global economy, our investments in other countries will create the so-called ‘strategic depth’ and not the shenanigans of the deep state. I am a strong believer in people (a collection of which makes a nation) and their ability to recover and rehabilitate. Can we do it? Yes we can!

 

This article was first published on Daily Times Newspaper, Pakistan on 3rd October 2012:

 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C10%5C03%5Cstory_3-10-2012_pg3_4

 

 

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