Hello, its Goebbels Speaking

Hello, Its Goebbels

(Joseph Goebbles was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism.

Goebbels earned a Ph.D. from Heidelberg University in 1921, writing his doctoral thesis on 19th century romantic drama)

Hello,
 
Its me, Dr. Goebbels, writing from my grave, where I am turning with agony upon getting the news of a flowery diatribe launched by a pen-warrior, a key-board jihadi, with penchant for the word “paladin”. See, this is what happens when instead of making them learn by experience, you force your children to cram the SAT word lists, the whole “Word Smart” books and their likes. Just like a rotten apple causing explosive diarrhea, that cramming can lead to an emotional outburst from the yet-green mind of the average Pakistani Child. My advisors told me that exactly Nine hundred and Eleven SAT words were used in the beautiful blog written by the author. I, for one would have jumped upon the bandwagon to find the “hidden meaning” of the number 911 but since my untimely death, that mantle has been handed over to Zion Hamid and Shahid Masood. The writer has shown extremely good skills of copy/pasting from a thesaurus and he should be hired in the first instance by an Urdu newspaper as soon as he turns 18. It is easy to ride on the high horse, on the pulpit, if you allow me to delve into similar verbosity shown by the amiable writer, and pass silly judgements on people without coming up with any facts or agreeable data. This trend is not new and will never cease to exist. In our time, with the mighty Nazi Party at the helm, we cut out all voices of dissent and under the guidance of the supreme leader--a hero of war--reached the technological and sociological heights that were unparalleled by comparison in that era. We were self-sufficient, hard working, hated our neighbours with a passion, believed that we are the best nation in the world and sent the dissenters to camps where we used their labour for the greater good. Sounds familiar? Oh, I digress.

Despite my poor English language skills and scant interest in the happening of far off countries like Pakistan, I still keep tabs on major players in the news arena. Express Tribune as a Pakistani newspaper is one of the few that I am interested in. It is not exactly “Der Angriff” in terms of propaganda-spewing but it certainly has an agenda: An agenda to cater to the English-reading population of Pakistan and to project a progressive image of the country. While my opinion on this matter does not mean much to you dear reader, I have one simple Question, Who doesn’t have an agenda? Name one newspaper in the world without an “agenda”. The rhetoric against Express Tribune is a spin-off of the video created by the modern day crusaders at Pakistan Cyber Force(How I wish we had developed Internet in our time.!!!). 

While the whole blog peiece was a piece of art and I would highly recommend the Lahore Museum to store its manuscript,
the most enlightening parts were
 
“Today Imran Khan is like a classic hero who has emerged as a paladin of nationalism, baptised in the waters of public opinion, made great and filled with courage”

and

“He who is conscientious enough to prefer steep heights of truthfulness, selflessness, patriotic spiritedness over the primrose path of least resistance, of timid appeasement, of petty self seeking, always gets pilloried by the forces of status quo and inertia, so goes another law of history. Imran Khan has committed no crime, violated no law, breached no trust, betrayed no cause, wrecked no chariot-merely that he was guilty of sticking to his guns and having the courage of his convictions, courageous and cognizant enough to chart a different course, sing a different tune, and write a different script” and

“Granted that these writers always ran low on writer’s ink and that logic and profundity were never their forte, but have they become so sterile, jaded and pathetically predictable as to be unable to write a single article without hurling mud at a celebrated national hero? History is replete with examples of once high and mighty writers, eventually running out of ideas and becoming clichéd and banal towards the fag end of their careers, but what to talk about the desultory and vapid ways of these writers who seems to have met their waterloo even before a Toulon?”

I am tempted to ask the amicable writer (Did you notice how I  changed the words, while saying the exact same thing ?) about his knowledge about the Great Khan beyond watching Television Anchors swooning over the “change” initially(and later eating a humble pie) and posts on his party’s official Facebook page but I won’t. It would be cruel of me to remind the young gun of all the “turn-coats” becoming the faces for the “Change” promised by the 59(or is it 60?) year old leader of the youth. I will not invite inevitable curses and trolling by the party faithful by suggesting a change in temperament with regards to the party and its “supreme leader”. I would also not waste your and my time advising the previously apolitical youth to read “actual books” or to attend “actual protests” if they want a political education. Why should they come out of their schools, colleges, coffee houses and air-conditioned cars(Glass Houses?) to find nothing but dismay? This would all be in vain. Nobody changes parties or opinions after debating their merits and de-merits. Proponents of such deluded mind-set should look at how democrats/Republicans in the United States and Conservatives/Labor Supporters in the United Kingdom always vote for their respective parties. As the last man standing for the once-great Nazi party, I see potential in the uprising of the youth of Pakistan. 

May the Shadow of Fuhrer remain upon us forever, 

Yours Faithfully,

Jospeh Goebbels

Magdeburg Cemetry   

On Keyboard Jihadis

(originally published by Pakistan Today)

The recent wave of popularity of Imran Khan and his likes among teenagers and younger generation is an interesting phenomenon. It is heartening to see the so-called ‘de-politicized’ youth taking active part in political discussions. Before the meteoric rise of Imran Khan’s party, younger people also formed the support of Musharraf on social media and organizations like Hizb ut Tehrir and Brass Tacks of Zaid Hamid also find most of their recruits among the same youth. What has led this generation to turn around, unlike their elders, and gotten them active in the political sense? This should be an important question for sociologists interested in Pakistani Society. Following are a few observations by the author about the “New Youth” based on interactions with many youth groups and people on social media.

Who are they?


Urban kids brought up on heavy doses of state propaganda through textbooks, jingoistic dramas about Kashmir on PTV, dramas like Alpha Bravo Charlie portraying a softer, jolly side of the Armed forces, incessant references to the Afghan war in 1980s as Jihad, endless political intrigues throughout the 90s and the relative calm of the early Musharaf years, the conspiracy mongering and everyone-is-against-us proclamations after 9/11, load shedding and suicide bombs. Their political evolution did not start from student politics or local area politics but from IRC channels to Facebook and Twitter via MSN Messenger.
They have compartmentalized the role of institutions in the country. Army good, politicians bad.


What do they think?


They strongly believe that democracy is un-Islamic and democratic institutions cannot provide solutions to their problems. They extol the military and everything it does and anyone who dares criticize the military on human rights issues is a traitor. Their self righteousness is raised to delusional levels.
They read all kinds of articles on the internet but their minds process everything using a simplistic algorithm: Us versus them (they can mean U.S, Zionists, Israel, India or the West). They do not think there is any difference between Islam and Political Islam. They rationalize the suicide bombings and Taliban rule in Waziristan as being funded by “foreign forces”. They completely believe in the myth that Allama Iqbal was the spiritual father of the country(for further explanation, read pages 9 to 12  of Hasan Jafar Zaidi’s thesis “Emergence of Pakistan”) and Mr. Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan was closer to that of Modern Day Saudi Arabia or Iran rather than that of Modern day Turkey or Bangladesh. They consider secular minded people as the “scum of the earth” and enemies of Pakistan.For them, the concept of ‘Peaceful co-habitation’ is not kosher and is libelous because it negates the “Us versus Them” paradigm.  Internet has offered them the cloak of anonymity and thus they go on abusing their own freedom of speech, inconveniencing anyone who does not agree with their positions. They seek a return to the Islamic model of government implemented by Taliban in Afghanistan or the one favored by our very own, General Zia. They do not know how Zia’s period in power pushed this country back almost 20 years.


Why has this happened?


Nabiha Meher Shaikh in her blog post, “Children of Zia” opined,
“Very few across Pakistan, elite or not, teach critical thinking which is absolutely essential and should be compulsory from an early age. Without the ability to think, education starts to resemble indoctrination. And in a country like ours, where schools have no option but to teach state-sanctioned propaganda under the guise of Pakistan Studies and Islamiyat, which aims to indoctrinate with a linear vision, this becomes even more necessary. One is not allowed to challenge the syllabus and is expected to regurgitate a single perspective – the chosen perspective. If you don’t, you fail and that is not an option most are willing to take. This sends a clear message: difference and diversity will not be tolerated.

By putting profit above quality and by not teaching critical thinking from an early age, we are a part of the problem. What we are breeding is an even more dangerous form of terrorist than the ignorant, brainwashed madrassa students who do not know any better. They were never taught to think unlike those who choose not to and continue to believe in conspiracies, which are trendy and perpetuated by celebrities like Ali Azmat. It is shocking when it comes from a well-dressed, articulate student in a suit attending the top business school in the country; one whose aim in life is to then move abroad, work for a multi-national that he is currently dismissing as an evil Zionist company. I wonder how many future Faisal Shahzads and Dr Aafias are out there.”


Is this a new Phenomenon?

According to cultural critic, Nadeem F Paracha, the slogans and rhetoric of this new urban middle class keyboard-warrior are rehashed version of the same anti-Imperialist rhetoric used by Leftist groups in the 1960s and 70s. The only difference being that after Zia-era indoctrination, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro have been replaced by Osama bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki.

Conclusion


To sum it up, I would like to quote journalist Xiao Lixin from   her recent  article “False impression of post-80s kids”


“If we claim that a whole generation is at fault, then there must be problems with the society in which they have been brought up and in which they live, in which case we need to pinpoint the problems and find solutions.

Young people live in a society that is completely different from the one their parents knew at their age and they have developed a different outlook on life.”

The Secular 'Dilemma'

We have all heard the debate if Father of our Nation, Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah was secular or not, because the liberals think he wanted to make Pakistan a secular country. In his 11^th August, 1947 Speech (which some Pakistani bureaucrats and politicians even tried to censor!), he said, “You may belong to any region or caste or creed –that has nothing to do with the business of the State”.  

As a student of Dr. Mubarak Ali, I believe that “Hero worship is not the solution to our problems. New challenges require new ideas”.

Thus, Instead of trying to prove anything about Mr. Jinnah, I would like to clarify some misconceptions about Secularism.

According to members of the ghairat Brigade, secularism is defined as “not religious or spiritual”(which is exactly what the Abridged Oxford Dictionary says).  They also think “a secular person has got nothing to do with religion”. They also translate Secularism as “La-deen” which is the translation for the word atheist.

The word ‘secular’ is derived from the Latin word "Saeculum" (meaning present age or this world). It was first used in 1648 in the Treaty of Westphalia at the end of religious wars in Europe that paved the way for the modern ‘nation state’ concept to become increasingly prominent.

At that time it denoted “the removal of territory or property from the control of ecclesiastical authorities.”  George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906) was the main exponent of this doctrine and defined it as “well being of mankind in the present life”.

According to Britannica Encyclopedia, “Secularism is  any movement in society directed away from otherworldliness to life on earth. In the European Middle Ages there was a strong tendency for religious persons to despise human affairs and to meditate on God and the afterlife. As a reaction to this medieval tendency, secularism, at the time of the Renaissance, exhibited itself in the development of humanism, when people began to show more interest in human cultural achievements and the possibilities of their fulfillment in this world”.

Oxford advanced Learners’ dictionary defines Secularism as, “the belief that religion should not be involved in the organization of society, education, etc.” 

Dictionary.com provides the definition as “the attitude that religion should have no place in civil affairs”. 

The one-sided definition and mis-translation of the word ‘secular’ is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, almost 80 years ago, a certain Mr. Maududi translated ‘Secular’ as ‘Atheistic’ (La-deen). He did so in his book Musalman aur Jadeed Siasi Kashmakash, Hissa Awwal (“Muslims and the Modern Political Struggle, Part 1”), published in 1937, in which he wrote a chapter named “Qaumi Jamhoori La-deeni state” (National Democratic Secular State).

In part three of that book, he wrote, “It is worth mentioning that not a single political leader from Muslim League or any resolution from the party have ever clarified that their ultimate goal is to create Islamic type of Government in Pakistan. Rather what they have said and repeated is that they want to establish a democracy with equal rights for the minorities” (Maududi, Musalman aur Jadeed Siasi Kashmakash; Published in 1941; Volume 3; page 130)

For Reference and comparison, lets also take a look at the definitions of Atheism.

According to Britannica Encyclopedia, “atheism, in general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings. As such, it is usually distinguished from theism, which affirms the reality of the divine and often seeks to demonstrate its existence”.

Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defines Atheism as “the belief that God does not exist”.

Dictionary.com defines Atheism as “the doctrine or belief that there is no God” and “disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings”.

But even then, Atheism or any form of Disbelief is not some ‘conspiracy’ or some sign of ‘pure evil’ as some people tend to needlessly panic over. People should not be judged on what they believe in, but on what they do and contribute to society as equal human beings. That is the basic premise of secularism; equality, respect and fairness towards each other.

Secularism is not a religion, it’s a political ideology. The idea of secularism in Islamic society means favoring a modern secular political system (preferably democratic) with separation of mosque and state, as opposed to Islam as a political movement.

Interestingly, a famous Muslim Philosopher Ibn e Rushd(Averroes)  has been described as the founding father of secular thought, becoming known as "The Commentator" in the Christian West.

The list of Secular states with majority Muslim populations include Chad, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Syria, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Turkey – each of them behaving differently with their own unique interpretations of secularism.

A person can be secular and still be a practicing Muslim/Christian/Hindu/Jew etc. unlike what the fake nationalists and the Ghairat Brigade think.  Being a ‘secularist’ as a political position means one wants religious inclinations to be confined to personal preferences, and for each person in society to be treated as equals based on laws that don’t discriminate or distinguish on personal beliefs but rather conduct and character.

It is fair to say that instead of arguing over what political stance or ambition Quaid-e-Azam had, we need to educate ourselves and think critically over what we are told to hold dear without ever daring to question. We must not fall to hearsay and speculation, but rather we should be willing to understand and use our own brains to figure out the problems we face with cool heads rather than through emotional rhetoric.

Only then can we sit together, and resolve our issues as human beings rather than as agitated animals.

P.S I am expecting both positive and negative responses to this post, but as a secular person, I respect your opinion, even If you don’t agree with me. 

Knowing Thy Enemy(PCF special)

Knowing Thy Enemy

I just finished watching the video 

'SAFMA-Sexpress-Geo Scoundrel Gang EXPOSED & ANNIHILATED!'(present above)

Being the nit-picker that I am, I noticed dozens of mistakes apart from the trashy music (the one before this had a better soundtrack).

Let’s start.

1. The First image in the video 'desecrates' the Pakistani Flag, making it looks similar to the Saudi flag, which by the way is a punishable offence according to the Constitution of Pakistan.

2. The First video is of a US news anchor telling us that President Obama has 'pledged' 50 million dollars to the Pakistani Media. There is no evidence provided about Where those Dollars went. (If anyone of you know how to get our hands in the Cookie Jar, please DM me, I need some of those $s) 

3. The next slide is of the word 'SAFMA'(without NO proof.!! Guilty by default.??).

They are labeled 'defeatist' minded secularists, which is a mockery of the English Language. They are also labeled 'mouthpieces of RAW/CIA/Mossad'(oh shit, they missed MI5 and Shiv Sena).

4. The First person to face the guillotine is Mr.Imtiaz Alam(who at least I personally am not a fan of, because his dogs were looking at me with menace while I was walking near them in shadman,lahore few months ago. #TrueStory) is presented as someone 'who ridiculed Prophet (SAW)in a program'

while actually in the clip that follows, Mr. Imtiaz Alam(in presence of hundreds of audience members on the set of that program) 'ridiculed the concept of 'Qaumi Ghairat'(which we all know, is not something to be taken lightly). These PCF hawks are, by default, inciting people for murder of a person by presenting him as Gustakh e Rasool. THIS is treason.

5. Next up is Marvi Sirmed, the favorite punching bag of Baloongra followers after she showed the mirror to Baloongra in Shahid Nama last year. They have presented some of her re-tweets, i.e. NOT HER TWEETS BUT THE ONES SHE RE TWEETED. The First one paints her as an 'atheist'.

The second is her statement that 'equal rights not possible in Islamic Welfare State',(which, if PCF Fmembers ever went out of their homes or watched Television, will know is what Tsunami Khan promises). But who cares anyways, brand her a Gustakh e Rasul as well.

Next up is her retweet about separation of Balochistan to which she added the sad face smiley faces ( L ) WHICH MEANS SHE DOES NOT LIKE WHAT IS HAPPENING IN BALOCHISTAN, you morons.

Cue the statement that SAFMA wants 'balkanization of Pakistan'.

6. Asma Shirazi is their next target. Her only crime is to applaud Ali Dayan Hasan on Twitter, who according to the dimwits of PCF 'supported' the CIA-backed terrorists of BLA in US Congress. As usual, no evidence or proof provided.

7. Hamid Mir is the next line, because, oh wait for it, JUST wait for it,

he accuses the #DeepState

of throwing dead bodies from helicopters and surprise, surprise, they(PCF) ask for PROOFS in the very next slide. Some nerve.

They also accuse Hamid meer of being part of Khalid Khwaja’s murder(he was no angel, mind u), citing a call that supposedly took place between Hamid mir and a TTP terrorist.

Their next plea is 'why is Pak Army subjected to baseless blames??', How Cute.

8. Their next target is Beena Sarwar who re-tweeted NFP's tweet about his neighborhood mullah delivering an aural attack on the senses. While the statement can be interpreted in many ways, it cannot be used as evidence against Beena. The fact that she is the third female to be targeted is a clear evidence of the sexist, patriarchal values that the PCF members so aspire of. 

‎9. Next up is (S)express tribune, which according to PCF is 'a platform for these blockheads to express themselves'. For the record, NONE of the above mentioned people work or even WRITE for ET. 

Jahanzaib Haque gets special attention, due to his Jay Toons. They cite examples where he has addressed the issue of the ST assassination by Qadri. Jahanzaib's crime, was to use to words, 'your fundo khala'. Next example is where J has raised the issue of child molestation. Oh,HOW DARE HE RAISE HIS VOICE against such fabricated lies, no one in Pakistan EVER molested a child, or threw acid on someone’s face, or killed people based on false allegations of blasphemy. No Sir, that has not happened in the 'Land of Pure' since Mahmud Ghaznavi threatened the caliph of Baghdad to attack his state, oh sorry, that never happened either..

10. The next slide made me laugh and cry out loud, in equal measure. Read for yourself.

'Do they know something called 'Media Ethics''

nuff said.

11. Next up is some pictures of logos of TV channels and the same video from a U.S channel that was played earlier.(According to my dear Amir Saeed, the same clip has been played by Kashif Abbasi in his show and this is NOT a U.S channel but a Russian Channel.!!)

12. The best, though, was left for the last.

Yuri Bezmenov's video about spreading misinformation through media is played.

A brief background of this gentleman.

*He was a journalist and former KGB informant from Soviet Union who defected to Canada. 

*He was an expert in oriental languages and spent many years in India.

*He escaped to Canada in 1970.

*He was an anti-communist and very pro American. He even wrote a book LOVE LETTER TO AMERICA.!!!

* In an interview in 1984, he told Edward Griffin, that, 

“They will be very unhappy [and] frustrated people, and Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the [ranks] of dissenters; dissidents. Unlike the present United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist-Leninist America. [Now] you can get popular like Daniel Elsburg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident [and] for criticizing your Pentagon. In [the] future these people will simply be [he makes a squishy noise] squashed like cockroaches for criticizing the government. Nobody is going to pay them nothing for their beautiful [and] noble ideas of EQUALITY. This they don't understand and it will be the greatest shock for them, of course.” 

This sounds so much like a tirade by any of the Republican Presidential nominees(a mixture of paranoia and lack of real time knowledge of politics) and much less like a balanced approach. 

PCF,in hatred of SAFMA, used info from a totally biased person, no surprises there. They would even take the side of the Devil if he said something mildly against SAFMA.

In “Exposing” and “Annihilating” SAFMA, PCF has, fortunately, exposed themselves.
 

(P.S If someone wants to know more about the leader of this PCF, here is a phone conversation between him and Zaid Hamid, provided courtesy Amir Saeed).