Cultural Differences

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

This is a good one that I have been thinking about, generally it isn’t seen as a bad thing to say,

British people have a stiff upper lip
German people are devoid of any sense of humour
Japanese people are respectful

These are all seen as cultural traits of people from different countries.

In my experience of dealing with Pakistani people, I think this is a part of their culture.

Selfishness - I think they are quite selfish, just look at the amount of mess on their streets.
Short sighted - They will never contemplate eating the egg, they will only want to eat the chicken.

A good example of this is just the widespread corruption everywhere, and the people willing to participate in corruption, they will always seek the easy way out even though it leads to long term detriment, just thinking about themselves.

Pakistani people can do whatever they want though, look at the city of Sialkot, they stuck 2 fingers up to the government and built their own roads, and even their own airport and freight terminal (although this was all for the benefit of the business community that built these things)

The best comparison one can make is to Japan IMO.

Date of the formation of Pakistan - 1947
End of world war 2 - 1945, independent in 1952.

Just compare the 2 places today, Pakistan has alot more resources than Japan too, Japan also has its fair share of natural disasters, so we can’t blame those, I think this is due to the people in it.

Even the Asian Tigers and other NICs in SE asia managed to get ahead in the last 60 years, I think the never ending circle of doom for them is due to the people in it.

2

Re: Cultural Differences

so Japan was a mess, un-educated country before 1945?

3

Re: Cultural Differences

Saying that selfishness and short-sightedness is part of our culture is quite rude and offensive.

4

Re: Cultural Differences

Dude, last year Pakistanis contributed 140 billion rupees i.e. 1% of the GDP to charity. Last I heard, Pakistan was the leading charity giving nation in South Asia and not far behind the Brits who contributed 1.3% of their GDP to charity last year.

The mess on the streets is due to the political and economical reasons, what does culture have to do with it? As for short sightedness, while in the developed world we seek to improve our way of life, the average Pakistani caught in all the conflict struggles to barely cling onto life so I don't blame him.

5

Re: Cultural Differences

This is what I mean, Saying that British people have stiff upper lips, or Germans are devoid of a sense of humour isn't!

6

Re: Cultural Differences

I don’t know what conflict there is in average Pakistan for the majority of people, however a typical Pakistani wouldn’t think twice about bribing an official, not realising the long term effects of his/her actions, they don’t really respect laws, in fact the only people they respect there is the military, that’s more because they are scared of them.

Making a mess on the streets? That mess comes from the people who are there, it doesn’t magic out of nowhere? No pakistani I have met (I’ve met numerous) would consider throwing something in the bin, and wouldn’t think twice about just chucking litter onto the street (even here in the UK, there is a correlation between litter on streets and number of pakistani people living on the street)

Heck, see here.

Google Maps - mainly pakistani people live here.

7

Re: Cultural Differences

From what i have seen they are charitable, dependable and will go out of their way to help someone when they need it. You just need to hang out better people.

8

Re: Cultural Differences

one more BBCD? :nahi:

9

Re: Cultural Differences

Big question about helping someone need it is, will they expect something in return?

10

Re: Cultural Differences

People in pakistan give charity for the hereafter and jannah.

11

Re: Cultural Differences

you cant just generalize a whole country like that, not every Pakistani is short-sighted and selfish, Alhumdulilah there are many Pakistanis around the globe who have made a name and have made their country proud.

I firmly believe that there is nothing that bad about Pakistan that cant be fixed by whats good about it. and trust me there is alot!

12

Re: Cultural Differences

Karachi is known as the Philanthropic capital of the world and it has the highest per capita donation and charity.
and we all know that Edhi Foundation is the largest social charity organization in the world.

13

Re: Cultural Differences

and hospitable :)

14

Re: Cultural Differences

So when a Pakistani helps out or gives charity, it's because he has to be selfish otherwise why else would he do it. When the rest of the world helps out, it's because they're nice. Way to go brother.

15

Re: Cultural Differences

who are we to judge someone's intention?

16

Re: Cultural Differences

Pakistan is a mix of people. I can totally see where the thread opener is coming from. Bribery is accepted by over 90% of people give the chance. Over 90% of Pakistanis feel they have a right to make a mess wherever they wish. When they are selling a product or service over 90% will try to charge as much as they can get away with.

However, there are a lot of hospitable people especially in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Gilgit- Baltistan.

I have travelled around most areas of Pakistan. I feel Sindhi and Baloch are the most genuinely hospitable. When visiting Sindh i would always get a contact in the next area Iwas going to to show me around.

17

Re: Cultural Differences

Exactly, one would find many articles/blogs where foreigners share their experiences when they visited Pakistan, and how their perception about Pakistan is changed the moment they meet an average Pakistani, you would hear them say, Pakistanis are friendly,welcoming and hospitable people, there is hardly any other country where people will be friendly even with strangers.

as for being shortsighted and all that, think about this, a common Pakistani men is deprived of basic necessities of life how would he think about his future? when all he worries is that he has to put food on the table ? in spite of all these struggles and hardships in his daily life, he hasnt given up, his resilience is commendable. Look at whats happening in Karachi, every day the city is bleeding, but the way Karachiites bounce back to their normal lives, after days of violence, is just so inspiring

yes, there is no doubt there is corruption in Pakistan, but is there any country/government in the world, that is free of corruption?
there are good and bad in every society, one cant just generalize entire society is corrupted and selfish.

18

Re: Cultural Differences

My question to the OP, have you ever been to Pakistan?

19

Re: Cultural Differences

Okay I was really put off by how insensitively the good traits were disregarded so I didn't really feel like touching on any of the other points raised in this thread because I didn't feel it would be of any use. But that may be mistaken as me or others brushing the negative traits under the rug so let me clarify this isn't the case. I'll briefly comment on a few different things just before I hit the bed.

Litter: I thought we were talking about culture, ye litter kahan se aa gaya beech mein but no doubt this is an issue. Safayi nisf imaan hai, hygiene is an important part of our religion, and yes people back home do litter. On top of that, the local authorities aren't helping. Sometimes people have no option but to create their own dump sites leading to pollution, diseases and whatnot. Yeh tau har developing country ka issue hai, is it not?

"I do not know what conflict there is for the average Pakistani".... Either you need to watch the news dude or you don't know who an average Pakistani is. Over 60% of Pakistan's population lives on under $2 a day and over 20% on under $1 a day. And I can provide a reference for that, I'm not just going to pull my own statistics out of thin air and say 90% condone bribery. :/

"A typical Pakistani wouldn't think twice before bribing an official".... It's not bribery and sifarish I'm refuting, it's how you've accused every Pakistani, including those typical Pakistani residents present with us here on GS, of being corrupt. You've only "met numerous Pakistanis" and hence this generalization of yours must be accurate? Honestly, do you not see how angry the Pakistani public is at the corrupt lot, be it the exposed media personnel or the PM, because its the public who's having to pay the price and not the wrongdoers?

"They don't really respect laws".... They could do themselves a huge favour by learning how to queue up or respecting the traffic laws etc. But military kahan se aa gai? If everyone in the developed world respected the law, their prisons wouldn't be overcrowded so much so that they'd be forced to let some prisoners go early. I'd like to see how civilized those societies remain without the law enforcement authorities and the justice system. Of course we all fear the consequences, the "pulas", hence we behave!

Himalaya, might as well have gone for 100% instead of over 90% lol. But what's interesting is that you left Punjabis out when speaking of hospitable people. Is it because you've never been to Punjab? I've lived in and been to no other area of Pakistan but Punjab so whatever positive image of the people I have in my mind is because of my interaction with the Punjabi people who literally embarrass you by treating you like you're some king, that's how hospitable they are. But let us not get into the punjabi/sindhi/pashto divisions, sub Pakistani he tau hain.

Lastly, about the original topic of cultural differences, what the OP is referring to are not cultural traditions of some sort but actually political and socio-economical issues like I said in my first post. And these are the issues facing all developing nations... poverty, corruption, bribery. injustice, poor road structure, poor training of civil servants etc etc.... is mein specifically Pakistani culture kahan hai, I don't understand.

20

Re: Cultural Differences

Yeah, I was about the post the same about how conveniently he listed everyone but Punjab. :hoonh: Other than that, perfect post BarbieCue, saved me a lot of typing. And yes, as funked up our culture is (borrowing up norms from a lot of different nations), what the original poster is saying isn’t our culture, but a socio-economic reality. And besides, one can never classify 100% of the population in one bracket.

That’s like saying for example, the whole nation is made up of criminals and robbers. It just isn’t possible.