What do we mean by Pakistan and Pakistani when we see the following:
1- The national language is Urdu but majority of documents including official documents are written in a non-local language.
2- Media has everything in non-local language or made in foriegn country including India ....
This include drama/serial/show titles, talk show titles, movie ads, news from outside Pakistan more than from inside.
Why should one subscribe to Pakistani channels when one can see same stuff on other channels anyway while living outside Pakistan??????????????
Long scenes in drama with loud background music and a sad crying woman with tears in her eyes is another common scenario. Seems like evryone needs a 'happy pill' there.
Plain waste of money..isn't it? Is there a difference in shows like game shows, talk shows or other programs from Pakistan and US? Copying other themes is considered 'norm' by few but I am sure majority even in Pakistan is just too worked up to see these 'charba' (copied) shows.
3- The person who speaks a foreign language in good accent is the host of the program wearing clothes made in foreign country....(Faiza)
4- Election is in USA and coverage is on Pakistani TV....... Why they do not cover election from phillipines, china, germany etc. the same way? no.
So why should they spend time on US election? Hours of hours and hours of coverage when they know whatever happens will still be on next day newspaper.
Show what average pakistani in Pakistan is suffering from... or doing a great job by being a Pakistani ....instead.
Show what is happeing in Pakistan and in any local city or district which could make life of average person better in Pakistan.
Get out of the slave mentality. Brits left long time ago.
Take care of the country on your own. Stop being the slave/beggar in the world.
So what is Pakistani and how Pakistani is different even from neighboring country like India?
There are many more points to discuss but share your thoughts on these if you like.
It is not all doom and gloom my friend. Pakistan has its own unique mix of culturual traits that are hard to find anywhere else. Some of the things that you have sited are natural part of global world where information and entertainment from faraway places are readily available, sometimes at the cost of local customs and culture. Having travelled the world, I can say that Pakistan is probably at the lower end of places affected by globalization and a global culture. You also have to recognize the natural similiarity and common culture with India and Indian culture that automatically attracts people to them. This effect is amplified by suppression of Pakistani culture, Pakistani arts, Pakistani movies and Pakistani music by the Mullah influence and the forced attempts at Arabization of Pakistani culture.
OTOH some of the things that you mentioned have come from a tradition of keeping people busy with something faraway so they don't pay attention to what is happening in their backyards. I have wondered myself why the news of California wildfire, for example, get coverage in news in Pakistani media. I think, traditionally coverage of local news and issues was discouraged and limited by succesive governments in Pakistan. I remember in the 80s (Zia's time) the news of any local riots etc. in Karachi did not use to get any coverage on TV news and the only information was few lines of press report from the Deputy Commisioner office. Things have gotten a lot better with open media now. Some of it is just laziness of news media taking stories of AP and Reuter feeds and publishing them.
The language issue is complex. There is a long history of English as an official language, Urdu is the national language but not the mother tongue of most of the population. The mix of English, Urdu and regional languages is uniquely Pakistani. Nothing too bad about that, in my view. Yes, things could be made better so that all languages remain important and fluency of several languuages is recognized as a benefit and encouraged.