The Dangers of Social Conservatism in the Media

Have you noticed how, in the recent years, there has been a rise of outspoken, boorish and rude conservative commentators in the media? Ann Coulter has been around for a while and so has that sell-out Michelle Malkin but all these crazies are being one-upped by the great Glenn Beck. I am not going to say much more about these people. To read more about their antics, you could just log onto one of the many American liberal website such as the daily kos. I do, however, want to talk about the alarming rise of the same breed of nutjobs in Pakistan. The prime example of this is the crazy "Hindu-Zionist" fearing, red beret wearing, "think tank" ka chaprasi: Zaid Hamid. This man believes that there are no terrorists in Pakistan; that 9/11 was a Zionist conspiracy and that the Mumbai bombings were perpetrated by Hindu-Zionists. To club a Pagan religion with a monotheistic one is interesting. There is very little in common between Hindus and Zionists of any kind except that we seem to get along fairly well. Every year thousands of Israelis come to India for a holiday because they are safe and welcome here, whereas no one but religious pilgrims go to Pakistan. India has always got along with Israel, even though the two countries have conflicting viewpoints on the Palestine issue. But given that, there is no animosity between them because viewpoints are meant to be debated in a healthy democratic forum and differences between friends are fine as long as they are kept in context. After a good healthy debate, an Indian and an Israeli are known to light up a joint, pour a drink or enjoy some mint tea along with their hookahs; but I digress. Zaid Hamid will never understand this; because he is a crazy conservative who believes that the average Indian is hell bent on destroying him. In reality, the average Indian could not care less about Pakistan. We are too busy making money, eating well, watching Bollywood movies, nodding appreciatively as skirts get shorter and women get more powerful in our society. India and Pakistan are the perfect example of the stupidity of conservative thinking. We both started from the same level when we were partitioned in 1947. They held onto their backward, religious based thinking whereas we subscribed to the liberal, secular ideology. Today, we are a power to contend with whereas they are as good as finished.