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!
The disease of anger has really gotten out of hand. It has nothing to do with government. Just drive down a road anywhere in Pakistan and you will see anger on display EVERYWHERE!
Very well said. We have become more and more angry. So much that now we do not even know what we are angry at!
The argument that people engage in uncivilized behavior because the Government/political leadership/xyz is corrupt etc. does not hold much weight. Usually the target of such behavior is our fellow citizen and not the powerful. We need to learn how to treat each other with respect and practice tolerance for each other. We know how teachers get mad at students. And how Sahab Jees/Begum Sahibas treat their subordinates, and so on. It is about respecting the rights of others and learning how to resolve conflicts in civilized ways.
I will say freedom of speech
The level of anger depicts the amount of injustice a common man has to go through everyday.