Following the brutal assassination of Salmaan Taseer, it seems like everybody has something to say.
And the most popular debate that has emerged, specifically throughout the English language press and social networking sites, is the “us vs. them” debate. (“Us” being the liberal, English speaking elite, and “them” being the rest of the people of Pakistan, who are lumped into one fanatic category.)
There are proclamations that “they” are all fundos, all ready to kill in the name of Islam. “They”, you see, are the majority. And the proof in the pudding for this scenario is the fact that when they called a rally recently, they, all 40,000 of them stood up cheering on Malik Qadri, because “they” represent the millions of fanatics that supposedly live in Pakistan.
Of course, there is no proof of this. There are no in-depth, quantitative surveys that have been – or could have been – carried out since January 4th. And yet, it seems, that everyone except the teeny tiny elite, is a fundo. Surely, this in itself is a broad generalisation? An example of stereotyping an entire nation’s majority without any proof at all?
After all, the majority could equally well be the silent moderates as it could be the supposed Islamic fundamentalists. But of course, researching or looking into the story an in a comprehensive manner would be too much trouble. So we, the English-speaking minority find it much easier to label the “urdu medium” majority a band of would-be killers and terrorists.
Of course, engaging in conversation with these mad, lunatic zealots is out of the question. After all, the only thing that makes them tick are time bombs and explosives. So we remain in our self-made bubbles, and rest assured that really, the problems in our society has everything to do with them, and definitely not us. All we can do is update our Facebook and Twitter accounts, and perhaps attend a vigil or two!
