Superficial politics of distraction not limited to the U-S of A
We Americans often bemoan the superficiality of our politicians and media, and I’m certainly not going to sit here and claim the criticism is wrong. Sometimes it’s enough to make you despair for the country.
But if you think we’ve got it bad, consider the situation in Pakistan: The Taliban have declared war on the government and major terror strikes have become a daily occurrence. Over the weekend they attacked the headquarters of Pakistan’s military, the Pakistani equivalent of the Pentagon. In many ways, Pakistani civil society is fighting for its life. Or at least it ought to be.
But even in the face of that existential threat, Pakistani politicians and media are apparently fixated on far more pressing issues, such as the foibles of its politicians, whether Pakistan is properly respected in the world, and whether its national honor, or “ghairat,” has been insulted by U.S. offers of assistance. Terrorism is treated as a secondary problem.
Protesters in Karachi, Pakistan rally against the Kerry-Lugar aid bill, which offers Pakistan $1.5 billion in civilian aid but sets conditions on the aid that many Pakistanis interpret as insults to national sovereignty. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
So Nadeem F. Paracha, writing for Dawn.com, a Pakistani newspaper site, has had enough. He says Pakistan is now “imprisoned by its own delusional pretensions of being a ‘nuclear Islamic power;’ always trapped and forcibly obliged to flex its withering muscles against big bad superpowers, while behaving like utter cowards and false supermen when it comes to the question of terrorism.” He complains that “a number of lunatics in the shape of discarded politicians, conspiracy theorists, TV anchors and maulvies (Islamic clerics) can be heard loudly distracting the people’s attention from the threat that Pakistan faces from within.”
Then he really starts to get wound up:
“Are we mad? That’s what it seems. The gruesome insanity of sectarian clashes and terrorism in the fine name of God across the last three decades is bound to have impacted our collective sense of sanity. By tomorrow each one of us who is not apparently a bearded maniac will forget about this attack and tragedy and move back to our fixation with imagined enemies and the political soap operas that we love to create about famous politicians.
Within a matter of days, we will jump from silently watching the devastation of the blast on the TV, to cursing Zionists, Hindus and the Americans, to cracking jokes about Meera and eventually nodding in thoughtless appreciation (at) the hatred and the accepted forms of psychosis spouted and exhibited by harebrained showmen whom we call ‘scholars,’ ‘analysts’ and ‘preachers.’
We all know about the why’s and who’s of terrorism in Pakistan. And yet, those who were lucky to survive terrorist attacks, or those whose loved ones were maimed so mercilessly in these attacks, we will go on wagging our fingers telling them they died because we are not good Muslims, or they died because certain elusive enemies of Islam are out to destroy our country and religion.
Those willing to point out the real perpetrators will at once be denounced as being western puppets and agents of anti-Pakistan/Islam elements. It is as if the few who are ready to speak out the truth in this respect loiter among a milieu of mass delusion and denial, and a society that has collapsed from being a neurotic mess to becoming an almost incurable bundle of noble-sounding psychosis. Couple this state of being with a collective love affair we have with nuclear devices, all I can say is God have mercy on us all.”
As a writer, I have to say I admire Paracha’s “let-it-all-hang-out” approach. You might say he’s a Pakistani mix of Hunter S. Thompson and Bill Maher. It’s also encouraging to see that such candid things can be and are being said in Pakistan, by Pakistanis, to Pakistanis.
On the other hand, the tone of the piece suggests that things are a little closer to the edge in Pakistan than I’d like to think.
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183 comments Add your comment
RollerGirl
October 13th, 2009
5:24 pm
“You might say he’s a Pakistani mix of Hunter S. Thompson and Bill Maher.”
So he works at the Qwiki Mart (pakistani), he is butt ugly (maher..take that, orly haters) and blew his brains out? (thompson)
RollerGirl
October 13th, 2009
5:27 pm
On a real note, this is simply more “all politics is local” I assume the unemployment rate in pakistan is probably close to our own 17% real unemployment, and that takes precidence. Every progostication i see shows that 2010 midterms will be soley about unemployment, even though we have an anti american megalomaniac as president, and the idiot twins pelosi and reid in the house and senate. Ample reasons abound to turn them all out, but unemployment will be the reason they do get turned out.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: O Stands For Zero
October 13th, 2009
5:30 pm
Superficial politics of distraction not limited to the U-S of A
The same guy that had a birther column earlier today…..
mmm, mmmm, mmmm!
Good luck with the lunacy Obozo has failed to calm in the wild beast.
A beast that will soon eat him, if he doesn’t man up.
Paul
October 13th, 2009
5:35 pm
Amazing how the distractions and delusions in the face of real, pressing problems transcend cultures and nations. Too bad it’s in such ways we have to be alike.
Yes, it is refreshing such candid statements are being made. But with those insults to the clerics, I hope Mr. Paracha survives.
rollergirl: I trust you know that wasn’t me two threads down at 4:59. I’ve asked him twice to change his moniker.
Jackie
October 13th, 2009
5:38 pm
The so-called conservatives will read and interpret the piece written by Jay to fit their own logical conclusion.
They have already started to CONFLATE, EXTRAPOLATE, OBFUSCATE relative to President Obama.
Watch the number of negatives about President Obama, even though the action cited in the piece was authored by the US Senate.
Yadro
October 13th, 2009
5:41 pm
Obama’s going to break another promise, he will be raising taxes on the middle class. This guy was all smoke and mirrors during the campaign and some of us knew he was too good to be true. So you sheep out there who voted for change I hope you enjoy your taxes being raised on the middle class of our country. Exactly what the average American family needs that makes the median income of $45,000.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: O Stands For Zero
October 13th, 2009
5:45 pm
We certainly are not going to be able to count on reliable updates about the legislative process until final bills are produced, seeing as how the bill drafting is now almost entirely on one side of the aisle and entirely behind the closed doors of leadership offices. It’s up to Nancy Pelosi in the House and Harry Reid in the Senate – working in their own offices with fellow Democrats – to find the compromise position that has so far eluded them. I expect reports to be very, very bullish about things, regardless of whether or not they are making real progress. Maybe they will find that common ground; maybe they won’t. We’ll just have to wait and see.-RCP
Maybe we’ll hear it scream when it get’s killed.
RollerGirl
October 13th, 2009
5:46 pm
Paul, I understand, I have Roller-less girl hanging around too.
Besides, I’ve never been one to jump when someone calls me racist for pointing out the obvious.
Irritating the politically correct and thin skinned is one of the great joys of life! And it’s free!
Normal
October 13th, 2009
5:47 pm
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
——————–
Maybe they should have their own Woodstock Celebration…Dude, pass that over here…OOOHHHMMMMMM!
I Report (-: You Whine )-: O Stands For Zero
October 13th, 2009
5:50 pm
Anybody care to tell me what happened to this?-
Passage of climate-change bill a landmark achievement
9:41 am June 27, 2009, by Jay
Other than it excited the dimwits for a day and then went off and died.
Now it has a failed legislation buddy, mmm, mmmm, mmmm!
RollerGirl
October 13th, 2009
5:55 pm
I’m all for a woodstock , in uhm, Woodstock! that works..I can sell chinese made tye dye and aquafina filtered tapwater to the hippies !!
Money Money Money, I love Money
josef nix
October 13th, 2009
5:55 pm
First, Jay, thank you for posting this. All too often we forget that such people as this writer exist around the world and in societies such as contemporary Pakistan their words speak to what millions think but cannot say.
We tend to forget that for us here each day to go about our take on the R word -ness of this, that or the other “cause” or “leader” without giving it a second thought, such is not the case in much of the world.
@@
October 13th, 2009
6:06 pm
A.Q.Khan’s head for a drone?
“““““““““““““““`
In a new review of its nuclear weapons policy, Russia will reserve the right to a preemptive strike if it feels its security is in jeopardy, Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev told the Izvestia newspaper, Reuters reported Oct. 13. Patrushev said Russia is reviewing its military doctrine and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev will receive the new doctrine by year’s end. Patrushev said, “Conditions for the use of nuclear weapons to repel an aggression with the use of conventional weapons not only in a large-scale but also in a regional and even local war have been revised.”
So what….are they substituting nuclear with conventional or adding nuclear to conventional?
I’ll be needing a clarification on that.
josef nix
October 13th, 2009
6:09 pm
PAUL–I hope the wife is doing better…
Bosch
October 13th, 2009
6:13 pm
Paul,
I left you a post downstairs. Didn’t realize the thread had changed. I too am glad that Mrs. Paul is resting comfortably, even if it is a drug induced roller coaster!
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
6:16 pm
Josef Nix:
I expect Congress to repeal DADT shortly after Christmas by Feb. That’s my best guess.
DADT passed Congress in 1993 with Bill Clinton’s full support. Hillary Clinton also supported it as did Colin Powell. Powell now says he wants it repealed 16 years later. The Clintons continue to weasle and lie about their support for it.
I understand why people are passionate. It’s destroying careers even when people never tell. Someone makes a claim they’re gay and for them an average 5 months legal nightmare starts. I saw an Air Force officer last night on the tube who has 20+ years in, works hard everyday, and is in limbo because someone says he’s gay–he didn’t. That’s his career–that’s what he loves to do. We lost 13000 people at a cost of about $110 million conservatively to recruit and retrain replacements and some of the translators are not replacable. See: Bush and Condi ignoring messages and refusing to translate and the big fire in Tribeca that burned all but the people who jumped floors to their deaths. Thank you Bush. See State Secrets and Sybil Edmonds suit tossed out of the D.C. Circuit.
I think the good news I have for you cause your comments last night to need revision.
There is an update on your DADT issue. Bill to repeal in the House since March with about 180 votes (that’s close to the 218 needed for passage).
Last week, in the middle of healthcare and Afghanistan meetings, Obama called Leiberman and today Bayh both on Senate Armed Forces to discuss DADT (and other issues including his healthcare whoredom and Afghanistan with Bayh today.
See:
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2009/10/White_House_Talks_DADT_Repeal_With_Lieberman/#
Leiberman usually is a de facto Repubozokin. But he’s for repealing DADT and Obama is asking him to help carry the ball in the Senate.
Leiberman is also privately saying he’s going to vote for a filibuster to kill public option and I’d do whatever I could to get him gone next time around.
Leiberman campaigned for McCain. He should have been stripped of all chairmanships and committee assignments.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
6:18 pm
How would you know the thread changed? It’s not as if it gets announced by the changer.
Paul
October 13th, 2009
6:23 pm
josef
Thank you. I left an update at 5:50 next thread down. And you really, really need to read The Lost Symbol. I think you’d appreciate it – and not just the story.
Bosch
I’ve never had morphine. Most I’ve had is Darvocet and my memory of that is it was kinda like aspirin. I must have a weird system. Haven’t heard what the nonlesion was – they just told her ‘it’s clear now on to the next problem…’ She’s halfway thru the Book. Hope she remembers it tomorrow!
Paul
October 13th, 2009
6:25 pm
Bosch
Oh, and thanks for the bone scan idea. I was present when a doc asked if she’d had a bone scan… maybe that’s on the agenda.
I thank God again for good health insurance. We’d be well on our way to bankruptcy now if we didn’t have it.
I’m lucky. Other people aren’t. Life sucks.
Isn’t that one of the things we expect from government – to make life less sucky?
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
6:26 pm
Paul–
In every double blind study in the literature in the last 30 years, Darvocet has not offered significantly better pain relief than ASA or Tylenol. I wish the best for your wife.
josef nix
October 13th, 2009
6:27 pm
G-DD–message downstairs–
PAUL–caught the update…will put the Lost Symbol on my reading list as per your recommendation.
BOSCH–no morphine? Ah, it’s a beautiful life!
josef nix
October 13th, 2009
6:29 pm
BOSCH–oops, ignore that 6:27…
Back in a bit…not much here yet for a reactionary…
DoggoneGA
October 13th, 2009
6:32 pm
“Most I’ve had is Darvocet and my memory of that is it was kinda like aspirin. I must have a weird system.”
Darvocet is strange, no doubt. If I take it I have to – literally – be sitting on the bed, because it knocks me out in seconds.
@@
October 13th, 2009
6:37 pm
josef:
I saw on a previous thread that you and I slept together last night. I don’t recall having done that. Must’ve been the Motrin. I have a very low tolerance.
Always know, though….I’m willing to give up my marriage for YOU
bayh-bee.
(ISH)
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
6:39 pm
@ Josef–
“Seeing is believing.” I agree. I think Obama is determined to do the right thing early next year, and I hope everyone gets full equality.
Paul
October 13th, 2009
6:40 pm
Govt Option
That’s interesting. I’d had shoulder surgery, gave me Vicodin and it made me sick sick sick. That’s about the time I stopped watching House… they gave me Darvocet and I thought “what’s the big deal? It’s like OTC ibuprofen.
DoggoneGA
Okay, I like your version better. Darvocet’s the strange stuff, it’s not because I have a weird system!
jconservative
October 13th, 2009
6:42 pm
So there is reincarnation! H L Mencken returned as a Pakistani news columnist. And he still does not tolerate hypocrisy.
Nothing Is Free
October 13th, 2009
6:58 pm
Gov Option
How about that great research about my blogging habits that you were running your lying mouth about?
You can’t expect to pretend to be a doctor if you can’t back up the accusations you make.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
7:02 pm
I had my tonsils out as an adult, and they gave me Demerol post op, and I threw up 10 min. later. Not something you want to do right after surgery. But after that sore throats were almost non-existent for me.
Some opiates will cause different results in the same person.
In my experience, and the literature’s I can get better pain relief in most people from ANSAIDS (anti-inflamatories) than Darvocet. I never use it. I know that a significant number of people have GI side effects fromo them, even from low doses if they’re the “right person.” I had killer back pain last week making it hard to sleep from lifting something I shouldn’t have (psoas tear), and I got through the week on Ansaids.
Bone metastases, or significant pain from whatever is a whole other story.
Mickey
October 13th, 2009
7:09 pm
What the heck is the point of this Jay? I could care less what the Pakistani media does; I want them to help stop Bin Laden and Mullah Omar..Period.
DoggoneGA
October 13th, 2009
7:13 pm
“Bone metastases, or significant pain from whatever is a whole other story”
No kidding. I have an online friend whose son was in a horrible car accident, and was horribly disfugured in the process. It took him over a year in the hospital to get started on true healing, and in the process they had to keep him in a morphine coma and he ended up immune to morphine.
DoggoneGA
October 13th, 2009
7:23 pm
Govt Option…just a tiny correction: “Ansaids” is actually Nsaids…Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory drugs.
Taxpayer
October 13th, 2009
7:25 pm
Isn’t that one of the things we expect from government – to make life less sucky?
Damn straight. If they cannot handle that, then I have no use for them.
Taxpayer
October 13th, 2009
7:25 pm
This guy makes me wanna wear my Made in Pakistan Levis with pride.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
7:29 pm
Yep Doggone I write it phonetically. I was there when ibuprophen birthed.
And now 3 or 4 of them are the darling of a lot of jet flying mass tort lawyers right out of the pages of John Grissom.
They work pretty well the rare times I need them as compared with lots of people I’ve seen in pain.
Ultram works half way decently for me and people I give it to. It’s an opiate receptor hitter but not contolled.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
7:32 pm
If a sm biz closes b/c of #H1N1 outbreak, will there be Fed financial assistance to help workers? Find out here: http://bit.ly/17Je52
Gawingnut
October 13th, 2009
7:48 pm
“Over the weekend they attacked the headquarters of Pakistan’s military, the Pakistani equivalent of the Pentagon.”
Pakistan’s military……………a classic oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: O Stands For Zero
October 13th, 2009
7:58 pm
By the way, what does this Paracha dude want to do about the problem other than whine?
Fight the terrorists?
Denounce them?
And where exactly does this fit into Obozo’s, mmm, mmmm, mmmm, Bad America grand standing and blowhardiness?
Remember, bookman, we are the enemy.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
7:58 pm
Iraq’s military and Afghanistan’s military are much much worse. US has zilchto show for the fiasco and ruination by Bush in Iraq. Zilch. 5000 dead 3 trillion wasted.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
8:06 pm
WH Hits AHIP, Making the Case for the Public Option http://bit.ly/IDKQl
Gawingnut
October 13th, 2009
8:08 pm
But if we spent 3 trillion on humanitarian aid to Darfur, Bosnia and Haiti, all handed out politely by the 101st Airborne, that would be different, wouldn’t it?
Where’s you precious UN?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: O Stands For Zero
October 13th, 2009
8:08 pm
Stick to babbling about medicine, Doctor Quack-
First train from Turkey to arrive to Mosul on Monday
U.S., Iraqi businessmen take on investments
JICA to continue technical support programs, soft loans for Iraq
spokeswoman: IMF and Iraq aimed to conclude a loan agreement within few weeks
Central Bank of Iraq dismisses Islamic Bank Director
Iraq Kurdistan denies wrongdoing in DNO affair
First Rumaila hurdle cleared, many remain
Iraq and BP-Chinese consortium sign oil deal
Shell happy with progress of Iraq natgas talks: CEO
BP Says It May Spend as Much as $20 Billion in Iraq
DNO Norwegian shares rise after ending the dispute with Iraqi Kurdistan
LUKoil ready to participate in Qurna oil project on Iraqi terms
Conduct overland tourist trips to Egypt through Jordan
Gulf Keystone finds oil at Shaikan-1 well
Norwegian oil firm DNO says Iraq suspension lifted
@@
October 13th, 2009
8:08 pm
Russia has repeatedly asked to participate in frequent NATO talks with Afghanistan and Central Asian states about Afghanistan, RIA Novosti reported Oct. 13, citing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Saying that Russia awaits an answer to its proposal, Lavrov made the comments after Moscow talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
I could be wrong but this may be the only arena in which Russia is willing to cooperate with the U.S.. The spillover would be a BIG headache for them.
Hillary’s comments after meeting with Lavrov today?
“We didn’t ask for anything today. We reviewed the situation and where it stood.”
Stalemate.
zzzzzzzzzz. Wake me up when it’s over.
wet wiccan
October 13th, 2009
8:18 pm
our fixation with imagined enemies and the political soap operas that we love to create about famous politicians
nodding in thoughtless appreciation (at) the hatred and the accepted forms of psychosis spouted and exhibited by harebrained showmen whom we call ‘scholars,’ ‘analysts’ and ‘preachers.’
a society that has collapsed from being a neurotic mess to becoming an almost incurable bundle of noble-sounding psychosis
Those statements come from Jay’s post, but they describe the US pretty well too. Maybe the whole world is having a nervous breakdown.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
8:20 pm
Iraq couldn’t have been a bigger effup. And the idiot who wouldn’t have had a job if her name wasn’t Cheney was part of a series of Efups every place she went. She screwed up Iraq reconstruction; she screwed up her other tours in the middle east and now the idiot is a chip off the old Palin.
Gov Option Done Deal!
October 13th, 2009
8:22 pm
I don’t see a lot of Russian troops helping the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan–in fact I don’t see one. I do see Russia selling to Iran and North Korea along with a number of other countries. That’s not exactly cooperation. No way Russia will support sanctions on Iran.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: O Stands For Zero
October 13th, 2009
8:25 pm
For someone who thinks government health “care” is sweet, it surprises me none to hear that the fool dislikes the victory in Iraq.
Eat some more of your narcotics, Doctor Bozo.
josef nix
October 13th, 2009
8:25 pm
@@
All we did was sleep. I was raised to be a gentleman and not take advantage of one in a drugged stupor…
jconservative
He did read like Mencken, didn’t he?
Nothing Is Free
October 13th, 2009
8:30 pm
Gov option
So apparently, you think it is OK to make up stories about other posters and then refuse to back up what you say. This is just a basic lack of character on your part so I forgive you. It’s not like you have the ability to control yourself.
For the record, I post here and only here and I do it under one name. This blogging is obviously your entire life. To me, it’s a matter of meeting a lot of people like you with very little intelligence and even less character. The best thing about it is that it gives me an appreciation of the real people in my life. So I thank you for that.
So the next time that you want to act like a hysterical little child and start accusing others of things that you have invented, please consider that those invented stories do nothing to hurt the other person, but show an incredible lack of character and self control on your part.
josef nix
October 13th, 2009
8:32 pm
wet wiccan
“Maybe the whole world is having a nervous breakdown.”
Maybe? Can you imagine what the extraterrestrials sent to report back are saying? It may be time for us to break out our copies of “Letters from the Earth.”
Of course, though, I’m trying to keep my sense of the r-word about me, so I vote instead for trying to find me a copy of “Passing for Human.”