Breaking the taboos

Silence. Avoidance. Deflection. Well left. These are some responses to the taboo topics, debates, institutions, and people in the society.

These taboos may be due to the “done thing” or due to legal requirements, or social pressures. Personal matters of a sensitive nature are better avoided. Legal matters due their sub judice nature are left undiscussed. Institutional or political matters, especially concerning the ‘pillar institutions’ are holy vows that are hushed with the mute button. Controversies are swept aside. Contradictions are “filed”. Conversations are archived with selective password permissions.

Then social media happened. Facebook and Twitter ripped this pretence of saying without saying. But the real difference happened when TikTok exploded. This may be a very frightening period of politics and many faint hearts may not be able to take this, but it is a moment of truth and reconciliation to the ‘real’ concept of independence. There are five new ‘normals’ that prove this:

Breaking the voodoo of no “real change” – A nation becomes hopeless, rudderless and helpless. This commonality of “less” makes the people of that nation feel trapped and imprisoned. For years, we have seen Pakistan become a country that is known for more of its misdeeds than great contributions. The favourite pass time of Pakistanis was termed as country bashing. Every evening most people here discuss the disgusting low points that they see in many spheres of life. There are many cynic clubs with overbooked membership that dismiss any chance of real change. Comparisons are made with neighbouring countries to state and slate our own performance. When the PTI government came, hope revived but due to extreme issues it was also labelled as gross over expectation by the Cynic Club members. Some good performances like battling corona and economy management that made neighbouring countries look novices in front of Pakistan were dismissed under the media attack of ‘governance failures.’ The ouster of this government has broken many shackles. Chairman PTI has openly talked about the issues and a large number of people have agreed with his explanation of how a dependent Pakistan both internally and externally cannot reach its potential till this dependence is not challenged and removed.

Stripping the mask of respectability – The mindset of a nation is built by the intellect of the country. It is the intellectuals and professionals who, due to their superior education expertise and role, become narrative builders. They become the “neutral opinion makers” and thus influence mindsets. Unfortunately, in Pakistan though we have brilliant intellectuals many of them use their intellect to colour the opinions that they want people to believe whether right or wrong. Due to being the ‘respected individuals’ of society, people are afraid of challenging them. Helped by the social media, the masses have themselves started seeing through this intellectual corruption. Recently, the editor of top daily who was a brilliant writer became an example of this. Writing, tweeting and retweeting against a particular party consistently made people call upon his intent and bias for the government. Many of his supporters rushed to his defence. Recently, he was appointed by the government as a special assistant with the status of a federal minister. This has opened the door for people to question these “revered opinion makers” and expose their real self.
Creating holes in the whole – Once upon a time the spin doctors had a solution for all problems. Remember how Tony Blair talked about the danger of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as a reason to invade Iraq? Later he admitted and apologized about basing his judgement on spin advice. A spin that cost 10 million lives and billions of dollars. Another spin was Musharraf becoming an ally in the US war on terror because they threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age. We did become an ally, but they bombed Pakistan anyway and killed over 80,000 Pakistanis and caused 150 billion dollars economic loss. This is no longer true. Spin of threats perceived and actual is torn apart soon. People with knowledge and logic create holes in it. In the present denial by the government that there was no U.S conspiracy behind PTI’s ouster, they fail to answer many pertinent questions raised by masses. One unanswered question is that why the present government is not buying cheaper petrol from Russia as India has done? They answer that the previous government is lying about having an MoU with Russia. Even if it is true, what is stopping them from making a deal now? This creates big holes in the whole story spun by them.
Challenging the unchallengeable – The most surprising change has been that the open and sometimes uncomfortable debate on the institutions is unprecedented. It is not just open talk, but a talk on the intent, performance and objective of people and institutions that were the ‘holy cows.’ Every day, there is a Twitter trend castigating and urging these people/institutions to be true to their mandate, objectives and commitments. This is a far cry from the avoidance and evasive talk that we have witnessed in the past seven decades.
Converting the apolitical to political – Normally politics was for the very rich and very poor in Pakistan. The very rich wanted ultimate power and the very poor wanted some benefit in return for their vote. Middle class started voting more consistently a decade ago. Then professionals whose organizations ask them to be apolitical started talking politics in their lunch break. Celebrities who were very conscious of their mass appeal remained apolitical for a long time. It is only recently that actors, singers, writers, motivational speakers and even sports players have openly posted opinions about a political issue and have also participated in rallies.

Taboos are restrictions which are intellectually stressful and emotionally deadening. It is only when we break free of these taboos that we discover the power of real freedom.

The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst