Fahrenheit 9/11

i have absolutely no interest in politics. not in the politics of usa at least. and i am not very proud of politics in my home country as well.

but one thing i like about my country is that when we are sick of a government, we are not stuck until next elections to get rid of it. someone comes along and overthrows the ruler.

and when we want someone to be in the governemnt, there is always a backdoor open through which they can enter and take the highest position. but thats besides the point.

ok the film.

I am not going to say how great and amazing this movie was. much has been said about it before.

If you want to read one review of the movie, read this one by an iraqi girl. And then forget everything else you’ve read and heard about it.

However, I am going to praise the independence of american media, whatever there is left, and envy the free speech they are enjoying at the moment, even though some americans would claim there is no such thing as freedom of speech in america, but they probably have never lived in a third world country.

There is no way I can imagine anyone doing something similar in Pakistan. The only thing that comes on tv is how great the government is doing, how brilliant the current ruler is and how fast the country is on its way to prosperity.

Not once I have seen a documentary or news report about the failures of the government and incompetencies of the rulers. It always seems like we are living in a perfect happy world if you only watch the official tv channel of pakistan.

But the next day the government is removed for the same reasons that the tv never shows to the people, all you can see on tv is how bad the previous government was and how close the country was to destruction and that the new ruler is our true saviour.

This has happened so many times in last two decades that ptv has totally lost its credibility.

I praise the independence of the american media because michael moore made a movie during the time when george w bush was still president but no one tried to stop him, no one arrested him for negative propaganda, the film was not banned, the cinemas showing the movie were not stoned and people who went to watch the movie had no worries about their safety.

Try doing this in Pakistan.

I am sure if someone tried to make a documentary disclosing what the government wants to hide, not only the film will never be allowed to release, for reasons such as negative propaganda and polluting the brains of innocent citizens, but the people involved in making it will vanish as if they never existed.

Heck, governments have banned entire newspapers in past just because they published something ‘wrong’.

In american media, govenrment officials are most targeted people by the comedy shows. Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien can say anything about anyone in their shows without having fear of getting banned or jailed. Radio shows do perodies of the president on a daily basis. Newspapers publish anything they feel like and I have never seen any government official getting offended.

Few months ago I said on my blog that freedom of speech does not exist in Pakistan. A reader emailed me and asked me to explain what I meant. There. That’s what I meant.