Adil Najam
This picture is of PIA employees in a violent fist fight (haatha-paee) at Karachi airport during a strike by PIA employees. The strike, its reasons, the political economy that led to it, the state of the national airline, and the politics that surround it are all important topics and all worthy of discussion. So is this picture as a picture.
At one level the context of this picture matters little. It is a representation of an angst and an anger that has now become a national disease. It is a representation of an anger that we see around us everywhere – and all the time. Anger is a natural and normal phenomenon. But there is nothing natural and nothing normal about the level of anger that seethes in our society. Indeed, within all of us. An anger you see here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. Indeed, you cn see it on display all over our comments section.
The first step in anger management, we are told, is to recognize that one has a problem. Let us begin, please, by doing just that!
I would say people are taking out their angers/voilance ,where it looked possible regardless of whom they are angry on .for example if they have anger on political leaders or at some corruption department or police ,they are taking out all these anger on small thieves,somebody weak,because ofcoarse they can not grab some rich ,powerful neck.So please if you really have that stamena go to your required person,dont spread panic and voilence….
Those who are blaming this on government of ‘conditions’ are fooling themselves. There are plenty of places in the world with worse problems but not this level of anger or violence. More than that the anger and violence in our society is everywhere, even in how we talk to each other. Go to a shop and see people talking to shopkeepers. Civility in society has all but died. We may actually have now become the most badtameez soiety on earth!
Sorry to say that, but the badtameezi, the anger and the violence has now taken over everyone!
anger plus jahalat is a scary combination
Comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “true”
– “We are always angry as a nation because mentally we have got nothing else to do! Frustration translates into anger and further into violence as we witness daily on the news channels.”
– “n islam , getting angry is justified for a cause. the prophet was very angry with the jews. he exiled banu nadir and quinoqua and killed the banu quraiza. its yr right as a muslim to get angry.”
– “naraazgi aur ghussay mein farq hota hai molvi sahab!
har jaga islam ko ghalat quote nahi karna chahiye!
hamen to bachpan se ye sikhaya gya hai k Ghussay ko pee jana chahiye!”
– “narazgi ubal kar gussay mein badal jati hai. laykin agar mamlay mein dum hai to gussay zaroori hai. . saw nay baday gussay mein yahudiyon ka sir kat diya”
– “good article”
– “Anger is not the national disease……it the expression of a disease !!
The actual disease is …dishonest,corrupt and self seeking government which has brought total disappointment to the entire nation….and they are expressing that frus…”
Everyone is always angry.
Very true.
And we somehow think that being angry is good.
TV anchors who are nothing more than angry are actually thought to be ‘courageous’.