Ammi's house, last night, I have no clue why they were watching the Republican debates. I wander through the dark hallway to get to the kitchen, and the volume is cranked up. I hear Herman Cain saying something to the effect that waterboarding is not "torture" but rather "an enhanced interrogation technique", and that he would endorse that as president.
The applause to this remark was immense. I was sickened to my stomach. Then there was the whipping up of fear about Iran, Bachmann's delusions about Obama and the ACLU, all this in a span of less than five minutes.
It felt like those times when we were driving west on the highway, and passed by a town with a mill. From that mill, emanated such a putrid smell that lingered for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles.
***
Nadeem F. Paracha in Dawn:
Take for instance how many of them responded to the UK court’s verdict on the three Pakistani spot-fixing cricketers. Last year when the spot-fixing scandal broke, positive thinking dictated that the cricketers must be supported because both international and local negative forces that are always relentlessly conspiring to blacken the country’s name were most probably behind this event as well. And thanks to many of our positive media personnel it seemed that for a while, Salman Butt, Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif, were about to become the male equivalents of Aafia Siddiqui (remember her of the ‘I shot the sheriff’ fame?).But, alas, a little more than a year later when the three were proven guilty in court and sent to prison, all hell broke loose. No, there were no rallies against the ruling or condemnation of the verdict like Ms Aafia’s (another convicted felon in the US).Instead, people began burning the three stupid cricketers’ effigies, cursing them for blackening the country’s name.So the negative old me decided to tweet a question: How come there are stones and curses for a spot-fixer but rallies and rose petals for a killer? By killer I meant you know who.As the positives came rushing in (on Twitter) to condemn my negative question, I kept on wondering. Wondering how come so many Pakistanis and the media are ready to pour out and passionately demand that certain corrupt cricketers or politicians be lynched, but then the same people shower praises on self-appointed defenders of the faith who commit murder, or look the other way when some other self-appointees in this respect go about their business of blowing up mosques, shrines, schools and markets?But, then, I understand. Why disturb one’s healthy positive aura and vibe with awkward questions. Why complicate things. I mean, all this might lead to negative thinking thus cynicism, unpatriotic thoughts and perhaps even atheism, no?
Read his opinion piece here
