The useless debate over doctor versus dancer

KARACHI : There has recently been a debate on social media comparing Dr Waleed’s achievement of 29 medals with that of a dancing girl. The netizen debated that memes and dance are promoted while those who advance in education are ignored and termed this behaviour an indication of our society’s moral decline. However, academicians and doctors disagree and term it an unfair comparison.

It all started when a picture of Waleed Malik wearing 29 medals received appreciation on social media. The caption criticised the TV media for promoting a dance instead of the real talent in the country.

As soon as the post went viral, every media outlet started approaching Waleed, inviting him to their shows but he didn’t seem satisfied. According to him, he was given space on electronic media after the post became public, and not on the merit of his efforts and achievements.

“As a society, we must acknowledge that education always comes first,” Waleed said. “Nowadays, children spent more time in academies rather than being with their parents. The lack of communication makes us an ailing society where values are compromised.”

Dr Javed Iqbal is a widely watched motivational speaker on social media. He finds this debate pointless and unnecessary. He believes that Waleed has already been honoured with 29 medals which is a true accomplishment. “The young boy must not misunderstand as this is not an apple-to-apple comparison. The media is now projecting him but this shouldn’t be his objective,” he commented.

An MBBS graduate from Ameer-ud-din College, Waleed hails from Lahore. He broke the record of securing the maximum number of medals ever won by a Pakistani. The previous record-holder was a female MBBS student from King Edwards Medical College who collected 23 gold medals. Discussing his long journey of hard work and effort, Waleed said that it didn’t happen in a day. “For five years, I avoided social gatherings and parties to focus on studies extensively,” he apprised.

Pleased with the accomplishments, Dr Waleed also sounded depressed by the shortcomings and flaws within the system. He claimed that there are fewer job opportunities offering a meagre salary to a doctor. “We want to serve the country but there aren’t seem enough opportunities”, he added. According to Waleed, the country witnesses a brain drain owing to the discouragement of talented people. “In the absence of opportunities, we are left with no option but to go abroad. I believe that 80 per cent of contemporary physicians would prefer other countries,” he lamented.

A seasoned educationist Sheikh Muhammad Ali believes that social media is a platform which people use for entertainment purposes. Not every person is shot to fame on social media and they are also forgotten quickly and quite easily.

Praising Waleed, he said there be a time for him when he would be among the notable speakers in the world. “This should not be the priority of a doctor, scientist or professor to become famous. Their experience values a lot more,” he explained.

In the recently concluded Urdu conference at the Arts Council of Karachi, speakers pointed out the trend of projecting a dance or any oddity that leads to anti meritocracy culture.

Students learning acting and theatre in academies hardly get opportunities to express their talent but probably that’s the nature of social media. We are living in a world where notoriety has its own value. Something liked or viewed by many automatically qualifies to become meaningful, regardless of its content. From Chaiwala to Party Horahi hay, the list of success stories is huge and you never know who will become the next star, shining for a while but attracting pointless debate.