ok, so its neither paki/indian/american or aussie independance day.. but still..
what does it mean to be patriotic..?
i realise there are a lot of people on this board who are die hard pakistan/indian/usa/brit/aus lovers… and there is nothing wrong with that.. but why are some of us unwilling to accept the bad stuff that happens in our beloved nations? why do we accuse others of spreading rumours and propaganda? does it make us love our nations any less if we admit to the fact that it is not upto the standards we’d like it to be?
why cant we just accept that evil does exist… and yes it does in our own homes.. why are we so blind?
I accept that bad things happen in Pakistan, I will however not agree to slander. When somebody is projecting a bad instance as if it happens only in Pakistan then I wont agree. Also broad generizations are not accepted.
Sadzz, because mostly we completely ignore progress and only focus on problems. That affects ppls moral and pride we instill in belonging to a nation. Without this moral you can not positively contribute towards building or maintaining standards of your nation.
In Pak's case, how often do you see someone posting a report about positive developments in Pak? Almost never. Which means that we in our daily lives can not be ambassadors for Pak in positive sense. Any nation's international image determines how much business it's going to get from outside. So if Pak is listed as a non-safe place, most companies wont invest or explore business opportunities in Pak, which is a great loss for us. You don't survive with a closed economy.
Propaganda war is targeted towards business activities, IMO. A slow death for nations, we haven't been good at defending us against it, or engaging other nations.
Some ppl take the defending behavior to extreme lengths, by refusing to acknowledge the very basic problems. But most of it is because all of our governments and religious leaders have had focus on Kashmir and to a great extend Israel etc, which means that many of us have gotten used to the thought that it's all someone else's fault. Our international image doesn't bother these ppl.
Saba Khala, that’s a hogwash. Truth must be told, otherwise some will not know. Now, if it were upto Pakistani press, they will probably want to believe that Daniel Pearl intentionally threw his neck to a knife.
This bad press (that you are talking about) should be a welcome idea, because here on Gupshup we have Pakistanis representing many places and many different point of views and news and views from different sources. It’s should be taken as a off-putting, but as an indication that Pakistanis, no matter where they live, are concerned about Pakistan.
I’m not talking about bad press, I don’t think there is any such thing as bad press, stupid press is a different story altogether though. I was talking about propaganda war. There’s a huge difference between these two. To get Pak declared terrorist state is not focusing on our problems it’s killing us financially, while discussing that Bill Gates chose not to visit Pak because of security reasons is a legit discussion (that was just an example, btw).
I do welcome focused bad press, I’d love to see Mullahs, politicians and ambassadors fired if they fail in bringing good business to Pak and waste growth opportunities by discussing Palestine and Kashmir. But more than that, I would like to see our media doing the dirty job of teaching ppl how to demand progress.
Saba, I see your point, and yes there’s propaganda that countries do engage in (Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, VOA, etc.) and it does produce results (often times more good results). But to close the doors to propaganda is more harmful than using it to one’s advantage. When attention is focused on a region, only good comes out of it. Look, how many Guppies refused to believe that the Honor Killing was actually pretty common in certain parts of the country. Growing up in Pakistan, I never knew that it existed, and even when it was reported in the press, it was reported in such a lovely way, e.g., “Ghayrat Mand Mard nay Apni Bivi ko Najaiz Ta’alakaat ki Khatar Qatal Kar Diya”. Now a kid who is fed “Ghayrat-Mandee” and “Bahadree” from the day he is born, this is a pretty nice news, and the kid actually honors the killer and is disgusted by the victim.
I truly believe that how hard it may appear at times, but the negative attention will yield positive results.
^^ Does that include throwing away war medals? or being married to a b**h like Terresa Heinz? or Does it mean to scream like a little pig after a measley little victory in primaries? I am sorry ahmadjee bahijaan, I just could not understand what you mean by patriotic. :)
I agree with the thougths that are already expressed above. I think being patriotic means having the ability to see the good and bad aspects of your country and still believing it to be the best nation in the world. Ah, I must admit, it is difficult to look at the bad aspects of your country, especially when it's Pakistan...but just as the news of a gang rape in USA does not mean that the whole nation is bad, similarly the faults of Pakistan do not make it any less of a good country.
I mean 