Expanding upon Hannah Arendt’s “common present”, Pankaj Mishra wrote in his “Age of Anger” that globalisation & internet has placed societies & individuals around the globe in a common present whereas these societies & individuals had very different & diverse pasts (n)

In this context, I would add that it was’t necessary that we all should have arrived at a westernised common present. We could have achieved our own different social & individual equilibriums based on our own past, orientation & inherited social structures (n)

This is exactly what is happening in Pakistan where the age of globalisation & digital communication has herded us into a “present” where we are presenting our local & genuine issues in a language & manner that is unacceptable, un-understandable & perhaps unpalatable (n)

for a large majority.

Take for example the slogan “mera jism meri marzi” which has sadly overshadowed the entire women’s rights movement. I mean it is NOT helping the cause of girls in large number of households across Pakistan. In fact, even slightly conservative parents (n)

become apprehensive about modernity & start questioning the very idea of their girls’ university education when they hear such disturbing slogans. If the idea is merely to provoke them, then it is spot on. But if your goal is to convince them to let their girls have (n)

university/higher education, apply for jobs & work in offices etc, you have to co-opt them, show respect to their religious & social sensitivities, allay their fears & make them feel comfortable with the idea. (n)

Another example: Do you really think that Hina Khawaja Bayat clip would help alleviate/highlight the plight of working women?

It does exactly the opposite. It makes them more vulnerable by giving additional ammunition to those who oppose the idea of women working in offices (n)

In fact, it strengthens the stereotypes that working women MUST do such “jobs” to scale the ladder of success. It kills the very idea which they are supposed to be fighting for: Breaking Stereotypes.

There are far better ways to “present” the genuine & actual issues like (n)

workplace harassment,gender discrimination, harassment & forced marriages etc. without getting vulgar. There is no reason to get excited & start outraging when Imran Khan refers to the social costs of vulgarity i.e Fahashi. We are witnessing a culture of vulgarity (n)

being promoted, normalised & glamorised by our entertainment industry (including certain social media platforms). Slang is something cool. Being respectful & obedient is being timid & restrained. Don’t you think it will inflict certain costs on our social fabric? So naive? (n)

We’ve seen PTV dramas from the 80s & 90s which dealt with issues like women emancipation, forced marriages, domestic violence & abusive relationships etc. Their direction, dialogues & acting would be immaculate. They always had a constructive social aspect without being vulgar(n)

As far as personal freedom/Individualism goes, it is such an abstract & subjective idea that even the West has still not come to terms with it fully. Is personal freedom absolute? Is it conditional? Has it any limits? They are also grappling with these questions although

the idea germinated there at least 3 centuries ago. This much we can safely say that freedom means “freedom to act responsibly &exercise self-restraint”.
Remember that personal freedom does NOT imply freedom from all social responsibilities. It means you are responsible enough(n)

to show restraint instead of being constrained by restrictions imposed from outside.

Now, there will be some mature enough to judiciously exercise their discretion. But there would also be some (n)

who will need perpetual guidance in the form of social norms & traditions AND state’s directives.