Adil Najam
Many readers would already have seen this on Karachi Metroblog. Voyeuristically, I guess, it is interesting. However, I wanted to make a rather different point.
Personally, I do not find this funny. I find it sad and slightly sickening.
The video shows a bunch of men from a neighborhood mohalla ogling at and sometimes provoking a frightened cow. In the process, the poor animal lashes out and kicks violently at various people who try to ‘control’ it. The tamashbeen seem to find this funny and, purposely or inadvertently, their reaction further instigates the frightened animal.
It is easy to focus on the antics of the cow, but I would urge you to pay more careful attention to the people in the video and especially to the comments of the person who is making the video and his companion.
That is the sad part. But not for some of the foul language that creeps in. What is sad is the joyous glee and excitement people seem to be expressing not only at the misery of the cow but also of those who are being kicked and hurled by the cow. It is not just that they are oblivious to the welfare of the poor animal; it is also that they seem genuinely excited (even happy) that someone got violently kicked by the frightened beast.About a month ago we did a related post on how people fail to react to the misery of others (in that case someone supposedly slapping a woman as a prelude to stealing from her). In this case its not just that they don’t rush out to help someone in obvious pain, it is that they seem to find that pain funny (this relates to a different discussion we had on why people ‘enjoy’ self-destructive behavior by others).
In this season of bakras (I know this is not a bakra, but since it is being treated as one, I am sticking with the headline), it makes me think of the inhumane treatment we met out to the animals that are supposedly going to help us become better humans. Unlike Arab society 1400 years ago, where livestock was a prime unit of currency and commercial exchange (and, hence, of sacrifice) and where most people would have been well aware how to deal with and treat these prized possessions, most people (at least in urban Pakistan) have no experience or idea about how to treat any animal and one often seen purposeful and inadvertent cruelty inflicted on these animals, which are treated as a source of novelty rather than as living creatures worthy of our respect.
Elsewhere on ATP, we have been talking today about dignity and the demonstration of dignity. Maybe it is that incident that has left me in a pensive mood. As I watch this video, it seems to me that the only one who comes out of this video with its dignity intact is the cow. I, for one, am rooting for the cow.
[quote post=”497″]. In one they are perpetrating inhumanity in the name of “lawâ€
This year the Bakra of the day is Saddam Hussain. No particular sympathy attached.
I don’t see any difference between this picture and the one yesterday of the protesting young man stripped and being beaten by the police. In one they are perpetrating inhumanity in the name of “law” and in the other in the name of or for the sake of “religion”.
P.S: Adil, I wanted to say more on this but I can’t. I am writing this from an Internet cafe in Islamabad and don’t have much time left (My home Internet is not connected yet!
Good point. But the reason why the cameraman and his friends are getting excited is that they feel that they are getting shocking footage which could bring them recognition on the web. Which might be the reason why the uploaded it to you tube right after taking the footage. I doubt reaction would be any different if this was taking place in any other country. Its not something that is wrong with us … its more of a human thing. No body was thinking about damaging or harming the cow either. The owners wanted it secured and tied and people wanted entertainment.
I agree with you. It is the cow in its silent dignity and suffering while sadism reigns supreme around it.(Is this how we commemorate the ‘sacrifice’ of Ibrahim this day?)