An Open Letter to the Editorial Staff of Chowk

Dear Chowk Editors,

I have been a regular here at Chowk for almost two years now, and an observer prior to that. In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve always felt that there was potential for this to be a place where we can all meet and learn from each other. I’ve been inspired by both writers and interactors in terms of creativity and social issues.

Unfortunately that has not been the case as of late. I should add that I am not the only one who feels this way.

I hesitated to write an open letter to you. I’ve written a letter before. I’ve made my objections about certain interactors and posts known to you before. I know how repetition can be tiring and annoying. It seems however that the situation shows no signs of changing. I wrote in my ilog that we, as in Chowk, are losing intelligent interactors due to the freedom of expression abusers that abound here. I also wrote that it would probably not make a damn difference to you if you were to lose some more because you will still continue to be online with what you have. I also mentioned something about thriving, but I don’t see how Chowk can thrive with the likes of Studebaker and his other personalities, and some of the more recent interactors. Thriving involves growing. And I don’t see any growth taking place here. A whole lot of cosmetic changes, but no creative or intellectual growth. What I do see here is a lot of Hindu-Muslim bashing, a lot of Pakistan-India bashing, and certain interactors insulting both men and women. Does one really learn anything in an atmosphere where we’re always insulting each other?

I’ve always wondered about the phrase, ‘all are welcome to read, write and think.’ Does this phrase not involve a certain amount of learning? Not just entertainment, but a sharing of ideas? What kind of ideas does tipu/Studebaker/various avatars bring to Chowk? He’s gone to a mailing list that is solely for South Asian women, violated their privacy, and posted emails here on Chowk. His posts may be entertaining and laughable to some, but to most of us he has not only been annoying, but insulting as well. Have you ever taken the time to read his posts, if intelligible? We can all recognize the inimitable quality of 20-head whenever he posts. Is it not possible for you to recognize that and do something about the abundance of nicks he uses to say the same things and abuse the same people?

When you brought unplugged to us, we were excited. Finally, those of us whose stuff never makes it to the first page could bring our creativity to another space. Unplugged has become an arena for some to blow off steam about anything and everything and yes, some of it is in good fun. Much of it however has been used as a launching pad to hurl nonsensical posts and offensive remarks about interactors, ethnic groups, women, you name it, and someone will make up a topic about it! As a woman, I have seen guys go beyond just innocent teasing of women here on Chowk. And just recently, we have all been subject to a topic on unplugged called ‘Raped but satisfied’ which many have simply ignored due to the title itself. The subject is exploitation of the masses, which is a worthy subject to discuss, but the terminology used to compare the exploitation of the masses to is utterly distasteful. Here is the poster’s introduction:

--Pak society has practically become piran yaddi. Old fashioned Pirs in Sindh and southern Punjab have messed up the whole society. They live lavishly with all the modern facilities but make their murreds sacrifice all of their belonings for them. Now there’s a new type of piri mureedi in Pakistan. Some people are mureeds of Benazir, some are mureeds of Nawaz sharif, some are mureeds of General Musharraf and the remaining are the mureeds of mullahs. There’re hardlly any real Paks left who can still use their brains like healthy and sensible people. Pirs of all kinds are enjoying a good time in Pakistan. They keep their mureeds satisfied with their statements. Nation looks like a yaddi zanani, raped but satisfied. --

And the menfolk are applauding this comparison. How true it is. Meanwhile they have no clue how describing a woman as raped but satisfied, married or not, is disgusting. Tell this to the women who have been raped, and who are the ones who have had to pay for being violated. Tell this to the married woman who has been raped, but is told that she’s the one at fault and cannot go anywhere. Let a man get raped himself, in the physical, not metaphorical sense, and see if he finds it satisfying. Then talk to us women. But until then, women here at Chowk have to put up with ignorant generalizing statements such as this:

--It’s very hard to satisfy women. They complain if your filthy sprinker system stops functioning in the middle of a meeting with them. They also hate if you try to stop people from aggression, rape or abuse of power. They’re satisfied only when it works with force. It’s hard to understand their psychology.—

Dear Chowk editors, if this indeed is the psychology of many of the interactors here, then Chowk is well on its way to no longer being a place where all can read, write and think.

I have made some valuable friends here on Chowk. Friends who have inspired me, and encouraged me, and I encourage them. I have friends who have left because their creative work was censored, probably due to the fact that they used four-letter words and other expletives, or perhaps their material went far beyond the dictates of what YOU find decent. I would like to put forward to you that there are posters here who go far beyond those dictates on a daily basis. Their interacts are not censored. One doesn’t have to use colorful language alone to go beyond decency. If you prevent creative work such as that by my friends to appear on your site, what if anything are you going to do about those who continue posting filth and rubbish on a daily basis? What are you going to do to keep creative and intelligent minds here on your site?

I made it known to a few friends that I was considering leaving Chowk. I was told that one learns to ignore bakwas. I had learned to ignore bakwas for quite a while, but ignoring it does not make it go away. For two or three good pieces either on unplugged, or the first page, we read double the amount of insults, if not more. To which I personally say Enough! I can certainly find other arenas to continue my writing and share my ideas, since the atmosphere here makes it no longer welcome for me to read, write and think. So you’ll lose ana. Big deal! You’ll get ten more people of the likes of 20-head and bhugidar singh.

I offer this letter in protest, and bid you farewell. And this is for the first page. Although I seriously doubt it will make it there. If it does, I’ll be in shock!!!

All the best,

~ana