This topic came up at a dinner party a few days ago. A few gentlemen were in the middle of a heated debate on politics, clearly divided between pro-Musharaf and anti-. And then the discussion turned to how the country is being ruined by self-serving politicians and military and the usual blah blah. Some one who got totally bored with all that made the comment, that why are we, as a nation, so self-critical?
The obvious and feel-good answer is that we are very “concerned” about our nation (ya! ya!). Then again, the question was that other people (Indians, Bengalis, Malays, Europeans etc) don’t keep on harping about the let-downs in their nations to such an extent. Every nation has its sets of problems. Why do Pakistanis amplify their problems so much so as to keep harping on them at every conceivable opportunity?
Agree? Disagree? What are your experiences and what are your views on this?
Re: Are we (Pakistanis) more self-critical than others?
This reminds me of a joke, a father and son are walking on the beach when suddenly a wave comes and takes the son away. Shocked the father looks up at the sky and says God I have been a good man please bring back my son, I will be forever greatful! The next second another wave comes and suddenly his son is standing ..alive and in the exact same spot that he was before the first wave hit. The father took one look at his son and looked up at the sky and started crying his eyes out and started cursing God..after a minute or so he stopped and he shouted up to the sky and said God you forgot his hat!
As far as self criticism is concerned..Yes but the extent that Pakistanis go is the equivalent of National self harm..I remember a Time magazine article spread that was done on Pakistan and INdia sometime back...something about an enduring achievement of each Nation. Most Indians wrote about their democratic system and it's survival despite various challanges, most Pakistanis wrote about Pakistan's survival despite all it's problems. Ultimately Pakistani's aren't whingers, they are just aware of one basic fact..that everyone knows what Pakistans core problems are but nobody wants to do anything about them..and that everytime the next round of badshahgardi kicks off the next round of leaders are usually no better.
Re: Are we (Pakistanis) more self-critical than others?
Hahah... thats a good one.
Interesting comment about "National Self harm". While an argument may be that you can't solve a problem unless you admit its a problem and talk about it, the excessive complaining may actually make you immune and be counter-productive.
I think this can either be a collective blame syndrome (i.e. "Who can I blame for screwing up my country") or collective no-responsibility syndrome (i.e. "Yes, they are all screwing up my country, and there is no role for me to do my bit, so I'll just complain about it").
Having said that, I am not sure if other cultures/nations are as self-critical as we are. May be they are.
ps. A thread criticizing our self-critical attitude. The irony! :D
Re: Are we (Pakistanis) more self-critical than others?
You are right …but you should remember governments in Pakistan are rarely responsive to the public..( a consequence of a system which believes in ruling not listening (the brown sahib complex as they call it) and since the system is not based on any virtuous principles the people in the establishment prefer cutting deals over respecting the rule of law or listening to the people. The end result is people complain even louder, Pakistans English press in particular is famous for that..contrast the Pakistani press with the Indian one and you’ll see more criticism of the government in Pakistan (Musharraf had a remarkably long criticism free period..partially because he engaged the media initially and inducted the odd person as a Minister from their ranks and partly because Nawaz had been so brutal). Besides that Pakistanis don’t have traditonal avenues in civil society to vent their feelings productively (trade unions, associations, think tanks, student unions)
Some probably are (some arab nations come to mind)…but the level of political awareness amongst Pakistanis is quite enormous..but not many states have had two figures which defined them in the same way Jinnah and ZAB did in Pakistan.