Low Impact: Loud Noise
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
Years ago, in the early 1990’s at Karachi Airport, I met the tiny sari-clad figure of Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to caring for the poor. She was small in size but had a giant impact. From small actions, Mother Teresa sought to bring the concept of a bigger vision by practicing that “if you can’t feed 100 people, then feed just one”. When I flew into Tirana, Albania last summer, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was called Mother Teresa Airport. Visiting the capital city of Pristina in neighboring Kosovo, it was pleasure to take a walk in the huge Mother Teresa Square where a statue of her is centrally located.
During my boyhood, I saw President Sukarno of Indonesia who was a high impact figure. He convened the famous Bandung Conference in 1955, which was the first real gathering of nations with aspirations for non-aligned independence. It was Sukarno, too, who came up with the concept of NEFO (New Emerging Forces). Sukarno sought to counter what he described as the Old Established Forces. When the International Olympics Committee sanctioned Indonesia for its refusal to permit athletes from Israel and Taiwan to play in the 1962 Asian Games, Sukarno responded by hosting in 1963 the GANEFO (games of the new emerging forces) in which 51 countries and 2700 athletes participated. Sukarno had a valid point though his methodology may have been unsound. It ended when he was ousted in the September 30, 1965 coup, which in its bloody aftermath left millions dead.
There is a saying that “To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask…who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?” The spread of the controlling influence of media hypnosis has dumbed down the masses. It has brought fright and fury. The mind becomes irrational when scared and angry. It is knowledge that has an empowering and edifying impact.
Undergirding the status quo is the herd mentality of conformity. Without inculcating civic responsibility, it is difficult to get out of the rut of the status quo. A culture of strong statements, abusive language, and anti-reasoning opens the doors to brainwashing.
Mandela was on target when he said: “the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”
The Pakistan Movement was notable for the calm, dignified and understated language of the Quaid, who had a distaste for demagoguery which he dismissed as chicanery. His product was Pakistan. The beneficiaries of his largesse are frittering away the fruits of independence through paranoia and hate, the impact of which has jolted the country’s foundations.
Loud noise has the corrosive nuisance impact of weakening the foundations. Loud dialogue may work in a Punjabi movie but it may not be the pathway to a progressive Pakistan. Subverting impressionable minds is easy, but instilling in them the self-awareness to move forward is the unavoidable and quintessential task of nation-building, which creates the impact that matters.
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
