A short effort on my part, trying to highlight the plight of minorities in Pakistan. Asia Bibi is only one of over two million non-Muslims residing in this country - their communities having been victimized on several occasions as a consequence of serious loopholes in our legal system,constitution and our minds. Mehr
17 Comments
Kamil
11/29/2010 11:55:07 pm
I LOVE IT! Especially the Stephen Jay Gould. Mehru, I love the way you choose to send a message, you need to get some fancy cameras ASAP.
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Mehr
11/30/2010 03:03:32 am
Thanks=] Apparently I do own a camera that I'm not allowed to bring to Lahore:p
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Muneeb Khan
11/30/2010 02:55:56 pm
Nice.
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Ahmed
11/30/2010 10:37:08 pm
What is a novelist's quote doing in a activist video? Even more so as the finisher?
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Kamil
12/1/2010 03:54:20 am
Because some messages apply to many situations
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Mehr
12/1/2010 02:18:20 pm
Exactly=)
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Ahmed
12/1/2010 06:51:20 pm
Its the same thing as our net-connected, urban, 'islamo revolutionaries' sharing Zakir Naik videos on facebook, arguing with atheists and agnostics of how even great thinkers like Einstein recognized God. ...taking things out of context & purpose, using them carelessly for their own arguments.
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Mehr
12/1/2010 07:58:23 pm
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly; but if you're comparing an innocuous usage of literature for the purpose of getting a humanitarian message across, to the extremely controversial(and futile) debates on God - it's unfair. I don't see how quoting a novelist is the same as the misrepresentation of historical facts or religious scriptures.
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Ahmed
12/1/2010 08:21:36 pm
It makes you doubt the sincerity of the person is what it does. Which ends up hurting the cause too.
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Kamil
12/1/2010 10:40:21 pm
While I understand that you're wary of quoting completely out of context, which is exactly what people do when they say: see, Einstein believed in God too! Sure. But that doesn't mean activist causes shouldn't involve the opinions of diverse sets of people. If they were to do so, that would be like saying that only other activists can say anything worthwhile about something that affects a lot of people.
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Kamil
12/1/2010 10:46:05 pm
I mean, really, how is Aung San Suu Kyi's cause NOT helped by the billions of celebrities who are constantly making a hue and cry about her. This is politics after all, the more high-profile people you have adding their two cents, the better. Only in some situations though, I'm guessing. I certainly don't like the idea of anti-Semitics adding Mel Gibson to their cause.
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Mehr
12/2/2010 01:18:23 am
Ahmed, I see where you're coming from but as Kamil puts it, a diverse set of opinions can and have helped activist causes in the past. It's just a matter of how you choose to look at it. Celebrity endorsements of political causes are sometimes fiercely criticized. An optimist, on the other hand, would just choose to appreciate the message irrespective of where it's coming from.
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Ahmed
12/3/2010 04:55:49 pm
Well, when you have celebrities molding their songs for political parties and being mouth pieces of schizophrenic war mongering fools then you know they can't be trusted to pick carefully. They can't be considered very relevant to a cause. Add into the mix their blind followers and you may end up wishing that they'd all just disappear.
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Kamil
12/4/2010 03:54:36 am
There's a massive distinction between saying that the novelist supports the point of view, and using a general quote of the novelist to support the argument. DeMille said stand up against injustice. The context is injustice, any and all. So what's the problem?
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Ahmed
12/6/2010 11:34:06 pm
Your simplicity is disappointing. Because he can't be expected to mean it unless he perhaps spoke about it explicitly.
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Kamil
12/11/2010 04:21:10 am
By that standard we might as well stop quoting altogether. Let's never say 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' again.
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Muneeb Khan
12/11/2010 03:18:08 pm
Ahmed, here are a few links you might consider viewing.
Reply
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