Pandora Box of Television in Pakistan

Re: # 68

impressions,

........ i think you are right - the desi community probably did vote for the desi kid en masse but i don`t think rudy was much better (although he was definitely better than sundance - he is gone next round !)...... sanjaya didn`t pick the right song but he has a great voice and i think he is good for another round or two ......... at this point, i think chris sligh and lakisha jones are clearly in the lead although melinda doolittle was awsome and there is something about blake lewis ....... the girls are definitely stronger this year and jordin sparks might surprise everyone - she has one heck of a stage presence for a seventeen year old ........... it is still too early to tell

..... and i will definitely check out top chef, i am sure padma is a fine cook... thanks for the tip

Re: # 67

urstruly,

they were bad people only because they said one thing and did another ...... they are guilty of lying and deception... other than that, there is nothing wrong with paying a prostitute for her services, being gay, or having an affair with the masjid secretary ( i think jim bakker was also gulity of having tammy for a wife and embezzling church money - which are, or should be, crimes) ........

Re: # 66

Hamid mian, I dont know why it was this particular banter that woke us up from our self imposed slumber but it did. We have some querries for your consideration.

1. Speaking of hot women and cooking shows, did you check out Top Chef? We would highly recommend this show to your family as it seamlessly combines Iron Chef with American Idol and provides for your viewing pleasure the amazing Padma Laxmi. If ever there was a reason to choose writing as a career, Salmaan Rushdie typifies it by having secured this godess even though he looks like a cross between Hammie from Over the Hedge and Hagrid from Harry Potter.

2. Do you think the desi community is voting en masse to keep that kid Sanjaya alive? That Rudy kid really got shafted!

We await your wisdom on these issues.

Impressions

Re: # 66

Would you care to explain why these three fine gentlemen are bad people?

Re: # 62

urstruly,

you remind me of ted haggard, jimmy swaggert and jim bakker .......... i hope the resemblance is coincidental, but the rule has been proven to be true over and over again ..........

Re: # 61

zeemax,

..... sorry, i can`t help you with this because i did`t watch any of it - i just can`t get intereseted in anna nicole because according to my value system anything over 36c is a waste ..........

..........but i am watching american idol religiously - it is serious business in our household and even though we sometimes have serious differnces on who to vote for, it has brought our family together in a wonderful way, it is almost miraculous! ......... but i do think that the situation between simon and paula is more serious than the security issue in baghdad and can cause a major crisis in this country? and what`s with ryan ?...... can you believe the hissy fit he threw just because simon called him sweetheart ?........ what is the world coming to !

Re: # 60
``You can bet that I am making my kids watch Anna Nicole’s stuff, in case they aspire to study Law in future.``


I watched a few snippets of this Anna Nicole hearing (or whatever it`s called in legal terms) and it was basically an overdramatized, made for tv, joke. The judge had nowhere near the professionalism of Judge Ito from the OJ trial. Please don`t make your children watch this crap, get Court tv if you have to.

Re: # 60

kulharee,

``it is that notion of acceptability and inclusiveness that the Mullah community finds so treacherous`` .... well said !

.......i am not a psychoanalyst, but i do believe that a lot of these people are still traumatized by the fear that they will go blind or it will fall off because they were bad little boys ....... others are unsure of their sexuality and instead of consulting sain baba of gujranwala, they take it out on the poor women who they blame for their bedroom woes and the source of all fitna in this world (it is also a hadith) ...........

............ and then there are people who, now that they are all grown up and `mature`, have forgotten what it is to be a kid - these people make a good case for euthanasia ........ i think people who don`t find `napolean dynamite` and `zoolander` and `borat` funny should be put out of their misery ........ every time i get into the car and put on my sun glasses i turn to my daughter and ask her if she has the cigarettes - the joke is old and corny, but she respects my devotion for the blues brothers ........... young people deserve the same respect ........

ZaharJ

In most of the urban Pakistan, to this day, there exists an open drain system in residential areas; open gutters are built on both side of the streets alongside the row of the houses. In Urdu these gutters are commonly referred to as naliaN. There are many Urdu proverbs that take into account those ``naliaN``, for example, `naali ka keera` is used to refer to a low life. The used and disposable water from kitchens and bathroom drains into these naalis, through a small hole in the walls of the houses, which is commonly referred to as ``mori``. There are many Urdu proverbs that take into account that ``mori``, as well, to describe a certain aspect; e.g. the proverb ``mori ki eent`` refers to a person who descends into proverbial filth to protect someone, like his family. He is not respected for that but regardless he keeps on doing the thankless job that needs to be done for greater good. It is akin to a piece of brick that is usually stuck at the ``mori` to keep the rodents coming in at night time.

Usually the plinth of the houses are kept higher than level of the gutters outside, so that the dirty water from outside does not creep into the house. But sometime the dirty water does come in – due to any number of reasons; one reason being the bad planning when house was being built and the other reason being that the level of gutters outside is raised by the repeated digging by municipality for laying down utilities etc.. In such houses there is a persistent problem of odor and other dirt related issues like flies, roaches, and rodents. If the residents of the house do not attend to the problem soon, the problem becomes persistent but after a while it renders the residents desensitized to the problem. They do not understand why they and their kids always remain sick and why visitors always complain about a `non-extistent` odor while they don`t feel a thing.

The reason, I wrote #39 was not because I wanted to entertain people, but I was trying to make a point in the context of this article. Every society has its ugly underbelly. A responsible society always tries to prudently address the issues of this underbelly and tries to minimize its effects into the rest of the society. The irresponsible society does not care about it and soon it becomes desensitized to it. The taboo becomes norm.

The TV and media in the modern times has become that proverbial portal, which is akin to that ``mori`` described above. If the foundation of your house is low, the ``dirty water`` from outside will creep in. A ``mori- ki eent`` is akin to the parent who assumes the control of the ``clicker`` or remote control of the TV. But if foundation of the house is low the mori ki eent cannot be effective. The dirty water still seeps in; rodents and insects still can crawl in; the odor in the house becomes overwhelming. After a while the responsible members of the household become desensitized to the problem and everybody remains ``sick`` all the time.

But just like mori and naali analogy, the responsibility to keep the household does not end at individual; society as a whole must act responsibly. It cannot afford to be indifferent to those who have houses with lower foundations. Everybody takes care of the other. What is taboo must remain taboo.

Hamidm2,

The weirdest thing, amazingly, on this horrid dance of the burlesque, was not the decomposing corpse, nor the child-abusing mother who kicked her out and now wants her body, nor the cheats and liers who screwed the mom when she let them, and now want her baby girl for the estate, nor each`s legal counsel. No it was none of those.

It was the judge.

That contemptible pseudo TV comedian wannabe, making a mockery of justice, playing for the cameras, making long-winded speeches about his past life, and faking tears and sobs while reading the judgement. Playing to the naive and the demented with emotional talk casting the sanctity of the law aside. And everyone loved it. It`s a televised joke at the expense of the solemnity of the legal process.

No different from Jerry Springer, except that it wasn`t a show. It was a real judge and a real courtroom. And a real probate case. The ultimate in `reality shows`.

Do you even realize that?

Hamidm2, where is your society going?

Re: # 59

Hamid Sahib, Anna Smith is as much a part of Americana as Scooter Libby or David Blaine. The beauty about this country (society) is that you can be a grade-A certified knucklehead and can still find a place to fit in. And as you very pertinently have been saying, it is that notion of acceptability and inclusiveness that the Mullah community finds so treacherous. It is not about choices on the tele per say. It is about my way or the highway. It is about my Allah is bigger than yours.

You didn’t watch the OJ trial? I am shocked. A friend’s son just started Yale Law, and one of the entrance essays he had to write was about the OJ trial. You can bet that I am making my kids watch Anna Nicole’s stuff, in case they aspire to study Law in future.

Re: # 57

tahmed,

...... i have not watched more than 5 minutes of this anna nicole smith saga just as i paid no attention to the oj simpson trial or the world curling championship in manitoba .............. but by the same token, if other people want to watch this stuff it is fine by me and if commercial television thinks they can make a buck out of these silly and sordid affairs, more power to them ............ i can always switch to the animal channel and learn all about the mating habits of the bo weevil, in which i am deeply interested .............. i think only fools, idiots and homicidal or suicidal religious zealots get all upset about what is on television .............

...... by the way, i have a good friend who is a curling fanatic; he practices four days a week, plays in a league and competes in a dozen or so tournaments every year ...... he tells me there are thousands of people who go these tournaments - and zeemax is worried about wierdos and freaks on jerry springer !

#56 by zeemax on February 23, 2007 7:53am PT

anna nicole smith wasn`t a welfare queen like you...

hamidm: `` anna nicole smith, a great american entertainer and pop icon,``

that is what she aspired to be, but succeeded only unintentionally and mostly posthumously.

and so is the weeping judge and the fake european nobleman, in this case. instant celebrities all of them.

as for the pakistani TV entertainers, the Mullahs of Mansoora, what they need is a good thrashing.

#55 by hamidm2

Firstly, if anna nicole smith was a great american entertainer, then a hell of an icon she makes for young american women. She was a prostitute.

Secondly, there is nothing wrong with marrying a person forty (or even fifty as you wrongly say) or even 63 years older (not younger) as long as he`s not 89 and in a wheelchair and due to die within a year and stashed with $ 500 million and you call it `love`.

Thirdly, maulvi sarwar is a psychopathic serial killer. How many have you`ve had in your country strangling and stabbing hookers a dozen or two a pop? He just found the easiest target otherwise it would have been another street-walker. May the innocent victim R.I.P.

Fourthly, I don`t think Urstruly wants anyone stoned to death. Neither do I.

:~)

Re: # 54

zeemax,

..... let`s not defile the memory of anna nicole smith, a great american entertainer and pop icon, a woman who brought joy to so many people while she was alive and continues to entertain so many after her death .........in any case, what` is wrong with marrying a person fifty years younger than you - isn`t that a sunnat-i-rasool ?............ may her soul rest in peace and may she enter a heaven unpopulated by smelly mullahs with beards and bad breath ... ameen

....... let`s talk ablut maulvi sarwar .... don`t you find him and his mentor qazi hussain ahmed of mansoora obscene ? don`t you think it would be nice if geo and ary were giving him as much coverage as anna is getting on fox news ?.......... or do you share urstruly`s contempt for `loose` women and want them all stoned to death on live islamic television ? ..........