Pakistan is experiencing an unstoppable verbal war a raging wave of verbal violence that shows no signs of abating. The way a such wave is promoted indicates that certain segments in the polity are bent upon badly disfiguring the national discourse. What is therefore witnessed is spate of allegations and counter-allegations and equally ferocious reaction to them. The matters have gone to the level that the ruling elite took exceptional steps to crack down on social media portals but failed to stem the tide further strengthening the doubts that some powerful entities are involved in muddying the waters. Though it cannot be mentioned with veracity who is actually behind this vicious campaign but one thing can be said with certainty that their intention is to encourage chaotic situation prevailing in the system.
In the midst of the tremendous din one conveniently forgets that this rumpus is badly denting the social fabric in its entirety. The lowliness of language adopted by public figures during the course of debating national issues is profoundly harming the entire social discourse. The situation has come to a pass whereby the lure of an angry public representative, playing with emotions and going about quixotically to put things right and wipe out evil, fails to abate. Many public figures have made professions out of their angry public performances such and all sides have engaged in vitriolic exchange of utterances that has proved very damaging to the public affairs in the country. It is painfully manifest that the wave of public indecency that brought new power brokers in Pakistan to fore completely diminished the importance of decent public debate. In the process, experienced campaigners were sidelined and were ultimately devoured by the bottomless idiocy of the current political show-boys. Hardly a day goes by without the public being exposed to shallow chicanery of our public figures.
It is just unbelievable to observe that layer after layer and generation after generation of public affairs persona in Pakistan have remained completely oblivious to the hazards of public utterances even after being exposed to almost a century of radio broadcasts and more than half a century of televised presentation. It is widely accepted that speech is given to the man to disguise his thoughts but this golden principle is simply lost and unfortunately Pakistani public figures cannot even understand this very basic tenet of human existence and utter things that are not only perverse but defy common sense. Nations do not run on rabble rousing. They require frequent doses of cold logic and prudent reasoning. Pakistani public figures conveniently ignore that tongue lashes viciously than sword and spoken things become indefensible later. They ignore to their peril that public is represented by institutionalised behaviour that possesses memory of an elephant.
It appears that public recognition, stage fright or magic of camera imbalances temperamental faculties of Pakistani public figures and they ramble on without appreciating the consequences. It is utterly lost on them that brevity is the spice of effective communication. They are so enamoured of listening to the vibrancy of their own voice that they frequently put their foot in their mouth. There are classic examples of this phenomenon as during their public discourses they not only lose coherence but also become ultimately vague though they are expected to clarify matters. They are dangerously unaware of their shortcoming and that no one, either their superiors or inferiors, had the temerity to bell the cat.
The verbosity factor deeply embedded in psyche of our public figures has not woken up from the stupor. Pakistani public field is notorious for plagiarism on a grand scale thereby committing the despicable act of intellectual corruption that is far more harmful than other forms of misdemeanour. Vanity, indiscretion and inadequacy mark many of our public personages who meander into the volatile public arena just because they believe in their invincibility or are inadvertently thrown in the muddle.
Justifying this despicable form of public discourse by mentioning that Pakistani public representatives operate in a closed-end society devoid of public debate is not enough. That there is no training mechanism in existence for our public figures, not even in their alma maters, does not grant them the liberty to run amuck. Thrown in the muddy but responsible waters of public responsibility they ought to rely more on instinct than their ordinary compatriots and refrain from taking them for a ride. In such a free for all it becomes vital to devise a rational code of conduct that is, at least, politically correct otherwise they may be avidly courting danger of a wider tumult. It must be noted that a nation is a power hard to rouse but when roused harder still and more helpless to resist. Pakistani public figures have already roused the nation wrongly and their capability to face the irresistibly disastrous consequences of this arousal is open to question. It is assuredly a public menace that is getting stronger by the day with no end in sight. TW
Unstoppable verbal war
Byadmin
Dated
May 22, 2022

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