The Sheep Dilemma

#31

Are you really talking to me because I never brought this up.

Thank you for interpreting everyone.

I never thought I was saying anything confusing but I guess anyone can make a mistake.

I hate the word rebel. It’s a joke to me. And who says Madiha is a rebel? Those of you not currently high or drunk remain seated, the rest of you…come back when you’re sober.

The ideas are simple.

One.

Do not piss in the urinal when you’re not tall enough.

Two.

Please try to understand everything before you try to lecture people or educate them or entertain them.

I’m sorry Madiha but you really don’t seem to be trying hard enough. Please make an effort to be different when you’re saying old things because there are people here who aren’t new to the ideas of Pakistanis having no culture or identity and how the bourgeoisie and the elitist scum are just reproductions of each other. So for the people who think this is old news and who understand the cultural landscape a little better than you, the least you can do is try to write in your own way without showing us blowups of your shortcomings and telling us how much you really hate us for being irritated at your fascination with the word hip. I’m not trying to demean you personally; or take you down a few notches in front of your “fans” but bask in glory later when you deserve it.

I’m teaching you a lesson here.

And it comes once…

Use your own brains. Spin your prose and monlogs in your OWN H-E-A-D. No matter what you do, whatever you write will always be cool and original if it’s made in your head. But to me I really can’t tell the difference between most Pakistani young writers.

The problem I think might be that they all read the same books. And I know this because I’ve been all over bookstores in all major cities of Pakistan looking for the books I like but finding shelf after shelf of Paul Coelho, Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Danielle Steele and Sidney Sheldon. Ask the storeowners who think they know a thing about books, who Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, Jack Kerouac or William Burroughs are and they’ll make a weird face.

The real issue here is everyone reads the same books. Nobody ever reads a book that hundreds of others aren’t reading. They all listen to the same music. Divide them all in groups. The boy-band/Britney lovers, the Arabic music/Shakira lovers, the hip Linkin Park/System of a Down lovers. The Danielle Steele/Sidney Sheldon lovers. The Grisham/Clancy/King lovers. The Ayn Rand/Arundhati Roy/Kamila Shamsie/V.S Naipul lovers and so on. I’m not saying that any of those writers are crap but it’s just that the cultural traits and anti-illiteracy/alternative-coolness shots that people get come in packs.
Don’t lose hope yet, I’m going somewhere with all this.

They all bring the same influences to the table.

They all think the same thought is their own and unique and their STYLE is new.

They all think of mooning the parents at graduation and the mooning is one clumsy and annoying chorus. The least they can do is that they’d not wash their arse for two weeks, so that it’d be noticeable in the crowd of ugly hairy butts.

One more thing. People think that being a rebel is a desirable thing or a fun thing. Most of these “rebels” are only out to be impress people and be DIFFERENT. It spells “big fuckin loser” to me more than anything else.

There’s so much to say, not enough time, not enough patience on everyone else’s part and my interest withers because not enough people pay attention to my posts and never leave their venom behind anyway when I’m the one talking.

Madiha: Regarding your post to help us “GET” the point, I’m reminded of this line in La Haine.

``WOW! What a speech! Half Moses, half Mickey mouse.``

Is “recreational keyboard wanks” a good term for such fare?

Nah.

p.s. Umer I wasn’t trying to snub ya mate; you’re one of the few people who don’t piss me off with their ignorance and self-important bile. Now prove me wrong by insulting me over my friendly gesture. ; )
Cheers.

madihawaris, tainted, zeeshan, imran suleman...:

who are DKNYers?

As far as appreciating songs about hardship and pain goes, everyone can do that. Even the suburban yuppie. It`s always been like this, so why criticize it? After all, the world is full of spectators as most aspire to be that and nothing more. The spirit behind the creation is rarely paralleled with similar desires in the listener or reader. A creative piece, like fluids, takes on the shape it is placed in. So Junoon`s `Sayonee`, an entirely depressing song, for most listeners is just another love song with good music whose intensity of lyrics need not be bothered with.

great article madeeha.. for those of you who agree.. read `Veronika decides to die` by Paul Coelho. To what degrees people will go to confirm is depicted pretty accurately in the book. And not just teenagers or karachiites. Everyone.

Re: Zeeshan, tainted
missed somethere there:

Okay. See, the point was the importance of employing that wonderful human ability lurking inside everybody to perceive, prefer, and select from the platter out of their own accord, agreed? Now, in everybody, come the narcissist, the schizophrenics, the dumb blonde, the dull brain, the rebel without a cause, the serial killer, the gentleman, the idiot. Everybody is very varied and different. Put aside your perception of this article as just-another-piece-of-shitting-on-the-convention for a minute and think, rebellion for the sake of rebellion is just as bad as sticking to the norm, but then, so is rebellion against rebellion from the norm and blah blah blah…all that is being said is to quit doing ANYTHING for the sake of anyone or anything but your own will and disposition. Act on self-interest, period.That implies listening to revolutionary music because you really are a believer in the cause not because it makes you stand out from somebody who appreciates N`sync. To hell with being different, if you like a Ronan Keating song, don’t be shy admitting it because fourteen year olds listen to him and it’s cooler to listen to alternative now. If you like reading Kamila Shamsie because you genuinely think she writes well (and she does actually) well and good, read all her books. But please, don’t like her or anybody else’s creative offering because everybody else is going after it. That is the greatest insult to art and the artist, and every artist should know that. Urdu storywriter Ashfaq Ahmad said,` It’s a cause of shame and alarm to be liked by everybody’. But the logic here is not that it’s necessary for everybody to be different, that’s like creating YET another convention. The logic is, it’s impossible for everybody to like the same thing. If we start listening to ourselves, we all have different needs and preferences, and yet the ‘norm’ pushes them down under and comes out the follower. The rebel against the norm would be a follower too, if the rebellion didn’t come naturally to him and actually became a `trend`. There is nothing wrong with liking anything, be it enid blyton or harry potter or pink floyd or neil diamond or a pair of comfortable nike sneakers…if you like them all because YOU like them all. Don’t force yourself to be different just because different is cool. Don’t keep it about being different in the first place. Once you start thinking about being different, automatically the norm comes in focus and other people around you come into focus…when the focus should be you and you alone. Oh, go get to know howard roark or something.

I agree with Zeeshan too. True rebels are those who rebel against rebellion itself. Pretty screwed up theory, but makes sense once you start hanging out with a bunch of ``I want to change the world just because I listen to ``revolutionary`` music....and even I am guilty of the behaviour [thanks to studying at a business college-what is in the air of these business colleges anyway!] What I don`t understand is how people who have never faced a single hardship in their lives seek the need to rebel, just because everyone else is doing it? Kurt Cobain would only make sense to someone whose actually overdosed on drugs, not a ``lets rebel-type personality`` [read= preppie] stating ``drugs are wow...but I wouldnt try them you know``.

Haha, reminds me of a quote i once heard: They`re all different in the exact same way! I step out of my building into the street and lose count of the number of people with orange or purple hair - all trying for that different look.

Enjoyed reading this article.

However, one must be mindful of what Madiha describes here only applies to a teeny-weeny population of urban Pakistan. And, that too is limited to teeny-weeny quarters of large cities. This should not be taken as a true reflection of our society at large.

ImranSuleiman writes 17


``I do however agree with the moral of the story, which I think was the author`s original intent, and wherein lies the beauty of this article: Don’t just follow because everyone else is... in other words, if others start eating shit, dont start eating it too... because you know its plain wrong...regardless of what the majority thinks or feels or does... ``

Shiteating is a national passion of Pre and post-partition Pakistanis. This shit must be of the imported variety. Even the monsoons, the epicenters, the waters, the arsenal and the accents originate elsewhere.

Such is the life of the mongerls and the mutts. If shame has abandoned us why not make
shiteating fashionable, flaunt it and glorify it

Ok if there is like a chowk get together... how is it that I am not invited?

Safwan, Saima, AnNy, etc... What the hell man?

Ok... once again .. we have jay ruining it for all of us on this board... he is like a fly in one`s chicken corn soup...

(from the overhead announcement system:
...madiha...madiha...counter p1chowk...)

change is evoloution(ary)
still(ness) is death

the skirts go up (and down)
mini, midi, maxi
buttons on jackets
four, three, two, one

change is evoloution(ary)
still(ness) is death
but even 100 or 200
years later, the desis
would still be plying
shalwar and kameez!

that is why perhaps
we`re alive nor dead

madiha
i think i laav you... really, so funny
zeeshan has a valid point.. also, most of us agreeing with you and gushing have been guilty of all the above at some point or the other
are you in karachi? i hear theres a chowk gettogether happening here soon.. hope to see you there
cheeers!

. ``Ever seen a herd of sheep following the guardian who steers them to this side of the path and to that side of the path with a mere stick. For all the idiot sheep knows, it would be following the guardian into a ditch and it would gladly do. This is what honest to goodness trust is all about. And being brainless. What the popular culture has done to attain and deserve this trust from the modern educated Pakistani person is beyond me. ``

Madiha, it is not beyond you, just read the pak history from pak.org. Pakistan is a country without history, it started with zero in 1947 and in the past fifty years it has built up a reputation as a jihadic country, and that is line wi its creation, as an islamic country, with its own brand of islam. For a pakistani the choice is simple, ape the west and be an island in an islamic ocean, or be part of the ocean and swim with the mullahs.

Having denied all its cultural past including the simple joy of flying a kite, pakistan is in cultural vaccuum, well I forgot the ritual of killing all kinds of animals and throwing their offal into streets as a bakrid ritual. Instead of looking at the actions of others and lamenting it, why cant you look inside yourself and devine what the future holds for pakistan. Follow its history, look at the articles on chowk, the longng for the educated far a land without blasohemy laws, without hoodood...well they were not there 50 years ago, they came 25 years ago and now you have a full blooded islamic region in NWFP....now you have the military that has banned political parties to engineer the rule of islamists indication that the jihadists have taken over the military.....the great mushy who changed so much of the constitution will not dare to touch the hoodood ordinance...

No Madiha..if you do not want to be on the island you are in the sea with the jihadists, and that is why there are only apes and jihadists in pakistan. which one are you

Zeeshan,

Are you trying to say that if you want to be a true rebel, then you must rebel against the `rebels`, in essence, adopt `traditional` values (whatever they may be)?

The neo-rebels are, therefore, the Victorian age traditionalists? Ha! Who would have thought.

I have noticed that marriages and motherhood is currently in vogue. Ha! Who would have thought.

Umer M.

Whether you are spending an inordinate amount of time following a fashion or a trend , or consciously trying to notice what to avoid , you are still part of that crowd in Pakistan who have some high faluting self-image.

The fact is that no-one among such kind has ever worked hard or earned an honest living. Their Parents` corrupt money and liberal lifestyle gives these kids enough time & money to indulge in such frivolities.

What a sad and sorry existence.