by FAWZIA AFZAL-KHAN
How did liberal- thinking, educated citizens of Pakistan come to believe wholeheartedly in conspiracy theories against Pakistan, in blaming everyone and their uncle (Sam) for all of Pakistan’s ills, in a refusal to see that Islamist thinking had permeated every sphere of public life to the degree that private domains also were steeped now in religious rhetoric to the exclusion of all other modes of reasoning and belief? What role had Pakistani media—“freed” under the reign of military dictator Pervez Musharraf to expand its tentacles into a proliferation of TV channels galore, and into more print venues in English and indigenous languages alike—played in this ideological battle for the control of Pakistani minds and hearts? It is my contention that while the media and its personnel should not be made into the scapegoats on whom to heap the blame for the current climate extant in Pakistan, a climate that certainly contributed to the killing of Taseer– nevertheless, we do need to understand how the media has played into the hands of rising extremism in Pakistan. That said—the people of Pakistan, the viewers and consumers of this electronic and print media, must shoulder responsibility for their “self-seduction” by the media, a concept discussed by media theorist Jean Baudrillard in the 1980s. Everyone must question themselves as to how this sorry state of affairs has come to exist today in Pakistan, where, to employ Gramsci’s insight into how citizens come to be ruled by certain forces—everyone, not just the media—has “consented” to being governed by religious hegemonic forces.
Viewpoint for more