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I really can't remember how many men I've killed. In Metal Gear Solid I've slit the throats of Spetsnaz spooks. In Call of Duty I've gunned down Arabs and blown American soldiers to bits. In Tenchu I've beheaded many Samurai warriors and in Grand Theft Auto I've indiscriminately killed everyone from the police officer to the ordinary citizen in the most sadistic of ways. The number of ways I have killed is almost as innumerable as my victims. I've used piano wire to choke them, a high powered sniper rifle to reduce their heads to mince meat, pushed them off cliffs, thrown venomous snakes at them, fed them poisoned food, suffocated them with a plastic bag over their head, perforated them with automatic rifles, used an old fashioned sword to mutilate them and many many more. And you know what? It was fun. It was exhilarating. It was epic.
You're the same. You love it too. Killing is.... exciting, for the lack of a stronger word. In every movie we all move to the edge of our seat as the protagonist is about to deal the final blow. The doves fly, everything slows down, the music swells, the hero pulls the trigger and down goes the bad guy. The clouds part, the sun shines down. The evil one lies in a pool of blood and is forgotten after one final shot of his corpse. Everyone celebrates the death of a man. In that moment, that final moment, killing is glorious. It is proof that as civilised as we are, within each of us still beats the heart of a barbarian.
There is nothing glorious about killing.
It doesn't matter how many video games we play or how many films we watch. Nothing can soften the full blow of watching the real thing. These days, that is not a scarce sight. It seems the road to hell begins in Pakistan. This week, we all saw an unarmed man get killed in cold blood by none other than the guardians of the people. And I don't know about you, but I'm still trying to figure out what just happened. I'm still lost in that "what the f***?" moment. I can't process it. How can someone just do that? End a life, for no other reason than to end a life? By what process does a mans mind just decide to pull the trigger, or swing the blade and end someone? How is it possible for someone to suppress all that is human and kill in cold blood?
Sometimes I hate the empathy that I possess. It's annoying to see everyone else's point of view. Seeing that video, that too inadvertently, I can't help but picture myself in that same situation. I can't help but see myself there, bleeding away, screaming for help and watching in horror as no one does a thing to help, knowing that the only thing a "concerned" citizen is doing is recording my last moments to spread "awareness". I can't help but wonder what that mans last thoughts were. Did he think of his loved ones? What did he want to say to them? What did he think of all the spectators to his demise? Did he feel hate for them? Did he have regrets? What did he ask God in that moment? What did he feel for the one that pulled the trigger? I can't help but have all that run amok in my brain and the sheer horror of that moment, being the victim of an injustice, lying in a city of eight million with not one doing anything to help is enough to paralyze me.
So did he deserve to die? Does anyone deserve to die? Does anyone deserve what happened to that man? And who gets to decide when a life must be extinguished? Who is the one who deserves to carry out the deed? Knowing what I know so far, the only thing I can say is that what happened was wrong. There is no way to justify the killing of an unarmed man, without trial, without just cause. Anyone who says otherwise, is wrong. What he was, what he may have done, whether he was thief and murderer, he did not deserve the fate dealt out to him. If people have to be shot because they were probably evil, because they had probably committed the crime, then you'll have to line up everyone in the country and put a bullet in them. The actions taken by the ranger on that day are no different than any terrorist.
What about the other side of the story? There's always another side. If we assume that the ranger was a reasonable man then what can drive a reasonable man to do such a thing? Well, the nature of his job always puts him at risk. He is always there in the places we don't dare to go, dealing with people we don't want to meet and experiencing moments we don't ever want to be in. Maybe after watching citizens lose their lives over something as little as a cellphone, after watching his comrades die trying to protect an ungrateful society, something in him snapped. Maybe after all the senseless slaughter he decided that the only way to fix things was disproportionate punishment, to set an example to serve as a deterrent to others. Don't deny the fact that somewhere deep down you feel the same, that the best way to fix the problem is with a bullet. But that will fix nothing.
I don't condone what the ranger did. I'm surprised some do.
I remember back in A-Levels a friend showed the whole class a video of a man being beheaded. Our teacher had to rush to the washroom as he could not hold down his lunch. Nothing can prepare you for the real thing. It's easy to watch all the bloodshed in movies and video games because we can reassure ourself, it's fake. But that video, knowing that what we were watching was a real human being, with family, with hopes, with memories, with dreams and emotions, that it was all real, something changed in us. It was like a punch to the gut and pain would not just go away. It was the same thing with the video of the incident in Karachi. So why does everyone feel the need to distribute it? What is it that you wish to obtain from the footage of a man dying? And don't tell me it's for "awareness." When did simply knowing an innocent man died stop being enough to stir emotion? What joy do we derive from watching and spreading the death of a man? Am I the only one who feels that this is disrespectful? Who is being helped by the proliferation of the footage?
Spreading a video doesn't make you a patriot, tweeting doesn't make you a part of a revolution, changing your profile picture doesn't spread awareness and liking some page doesn't make you a better Muslim. For that matter even blogging is meaningless. People need to wake up and realize that these meaningless things just mean they are too lazy to solve the problems that we face today. They are silly games, made to make us feel better. Here's one last question, when our descendants ask us what we did to make things better, what do you think they'll feel when we tell them "well beta, I updated my facebook status"?
I for one hate preaching, I hoped to write a different post this time around but our country never fails to surprise.
Talha A. B.
First of all, very well written. Heart wrenching more like.
ReplyDeleteI remember when i was young and if i woke up to find my parents with a certain "look" it meant someone in the family had passed away or other hazards. I'm past that now. Its there everyday. This time, a wider circle of the family is involved. I never saw the video at first because description was sufficient. My brother told me how there was an "accident" and the bullet hit the head rather than the foot. I guess we both were unaware that it was not that. The guy actually bled to death. Of course there was no escape. The myriads of 8 to 9-ers were enough to give me my doze of that horrendous video. Yesterday my mom also told me that when they shot him the boy called out to his mom like we all used to and still do when in any sort of pain. That was the last nail on the coffin as they say. I try to keep these things at the back of my mind because if i don't they effect me on some strange level which is a mixture of rage and helplessness. But this one just burst through those barriers. When I read the draft of this post it was around 5 a.m and yes I lost some sleep over it. Which Talha says was the purpose, to transfer that feeling and so he has successfully.
One transfer I too dont get is the posting of that video and the fact that it was made in the first place. I mean, camera guy, you think you think you did that guy JUSTICE! Relaying his last words before he drifted away as he lay in his own pool of blood. The human thing would be to ditch the camera and try tying up his leg or getting some help. Media Media Media! I'm so sick of this rant and chant. Where in the name of God has all the humanity in human beings gone! Since when watching a man die get classified as some bloody "tamasha"?
So yes there is the rage and helplessness indeed. I don't know if any writing or video-ing will make a difference. The only way I could have made a difference would be being at that exact spot at that exact point of time and yes that is impossible enough. The thing is there actually WERE a lot of people at that exact place at that exact point of time. What's happened to us, seriously. Its like some sick viral infestation. How far are we from cannibalism I wonder. Oh wait, that's already happened too. Awesome.
First of all, very well written. Heart wrenching more like.I remember when i was young and if i woke up to find my parents with a certain "look" it meant someone in the family had passed away or other hazards. I'm past that now. Its there everyday. This time, a wider circle of the family is involved. I never saw the video at first because description was sufficient. My brother told me how there was an "accident" and the bullet hit the head rather than the foot. I guess we both were unaware that it was not that. The guy actually bled to death. Of course there was no escape. The myriads of 8 to 9-ers were enough to give me my doze of that horrendous video. Yesterday my mom also told me that when they shot him the boy called out to his mom like we all used to and still do when in any sort of pain. That was the last nail on the coffin as they say. I try to keep these things at the back of my mind because if i don't they effect me on some strange level which is a mixture of rage and helplessness. But this one just burst through those barriers. When I read the draft of this post it was around 5 a.m and yes I lost some sleep over it. Which Talha says was the purpose, to transfer that feeling and so he has successfully.One transfer I too dont get is the posting of that video and the fact that it was made in the first place. I mean, camera guy, you think you think you did that guy JUSTICE! Relaying his last words before he drifted away as he lay in his own pool of blood. The human thing would be to ditch the camera and try tying up his leg or getting some help. Media Media Media! I'm so sick of this rant and chant. Where in the name of God has all the humanity in human beings gone! Since when watching a man die get classified as some bloody "tamasha"?So yes there is the rage and helplessness indeed. I don't know if any writing or video-ing will make a difference. The only way I could have made a difference would be being at that exact spot at that exact point of time and yes that is impossible enough. The thing is there actually WERE a lot of people at that exact place at that exact point of time. What's happened to us, seriously. Its like some sick viral infestation. How far are we from cannibalism I wonder. Oh wait, that's already happened too. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to say....should I congratulate you on writing such a brilliant post or should I mourn the fact that our country has reached its nadir??
ReplyDeleteThe state of affairs seems so gloomy that if everyone in the country committed suicide tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised. ‘Killings’ and ‘deaths’ are words used in our daily conversations as if they were ‘hello’ and ‘hi’!
If you happen to watch news on television or read the paper, the only thing you see apart from political soap opera, is death. When we hear that two to so people have died, we just ignore it. As if it was nothing. We don’t think about their families, their dependants, their dreams, their aspirations, etc. Its only when a major incident happens and fifty plus people die…that we give some attention and say:
“ts ts ts bohat bura hua!” and then that’s it. We continue business as usual…As Talha mentioned some of us ‘do our bit’ and update our facebook status or ‘like’ a certain page…
Such a lack of humanity!! We weren’t like this, were we? We were a nation of warm, compassionate, humanity loving and hospitable people. What made us so cold? What made us like this? I think we know the answer…As Talha mentioned our exposure to violence has reached astronomical heights…be it video games/movies or other such ‘evils’. We have experienced/seen so much violence that we are now somehow numb to it. It is as if we have created this defensive mechanism. There is a force field around us that deflects all these bad things from us. We are living inside a bubble…if we turn a blind eye towards the situation, we’d be safe…how misguided we are!
About the kid that was killed in Karachi…I don’t know what to say. Surely it was a heinous, barbaric and cold blooded murder. You are right; nobody has the right to be 'judge, jury and executioner'. You talked about the other side of the story. You are right; there are always two sides to a story. The ranger shot the alleged target killer/mobile snatcher in the leg because he was resisting arrest. The ranger asked him to lie on the ground; so that he could be handcuffed…he in return grabbed the ranger’s gun. So we could give him the benefit of doubt as he was scared and shot the alleged criminal in the leg, following SOP. But the fact that he was left there to bleed to death, is simply deplorable. Surely he wasn’t a threat once he was hit. An ambulance should have been called…It was a public park and many people were present there witnessing the event. Maybe the guy who was using his mobile for filming the action could have used it to make a call…?
And Sara Q, you are right we are cannibals. Both figuratively as well as literally! Each day I say to myself, surely things can't be any worse! And every day I am proven wrong :( Lets just hope and pray that this night of abysmal despair is followed by a bright and promising day.......
I am starting from the beginning of your article...
ReplyDeleteNO! I diagree with you. One I have never loved killing. I can't even imagine one being hurt. I remeber, during the austrialian open this year, Nadal had the chance to hold all 4 slams at one time had he won the aussie open, and i so badly wanted federer to win and nadal to loose... but when he lost in the quarters due t an injury, you cant imagine, how bad i felt. and i am not talking about myself here but everone who wanted nadal to loose....I felt like it was coz of me that he got injured and lost. I had never wanted him to loose like that... I am not saying that i am some very warm hearted person, there are moments when i do feel a little what should i call it....
2nd! Its never the deathof a person that is celebrated in movies. Its the death of evil, the bad that is celebrated, not the death of a person. Never has the death been celebrated in a civilized movie. I remeber the Kungfu Panda 2. He never wanted to kill the peacock. He had forgiven him for killing his parents but peacock chose to kill panda too and in while panda was defending himself, peacock got killed and it was not the death of peacock that was celebrated but the death of evil... but may be you are right...
And its not just you Talha, we are all trying to figure out ehat happened and why??? But alas! thats all we do and nothing else...
Again disagreed Talha. They never record our last moments to spread awareness. Who told you so? They reord it to earn money and then braging "We were the first to diclose the video and the news" "we were there first and we saw it all happen, and we saw the person die and took a shot of it"
You know what? We are reaping what we have sown. It nothing but the results of our deeds. Our bad deeds.
Finally agreed with you that shooting a man without trial is no doubt terrorism.
COuld not agree more with you on that tweeting and sending texts never makes you a part of revolution. You know what those stupid texts are also a way to earn money (for mobile companies) and we are so dumb headed that we without realizing it and even knowing that it will do no good, forward it to all our contact list.
and Talha you are talking about our next generation. We cant stand the shame we will face there, what if ALmighty asks us the same question that you had the mind, you had the awareness, you had the knowledge, you had everything. what di you do to stop that? what will we do then? where will we go then? With our next generation ,we will have some time at least to take some sort of stand in the little time that we ll be left with but with Almighty, where will we go? the very thot makes me shiever.
It reminds of Hazrat Ibrahim, when he was thrown in fire by Namrood. A bir was carrying water in his beak and putting it on fire in an attemot to put out the fire. Seeing him do that, all the other birds laughed at him that yu are so stupid, you cant put an end to such a huge fire with this little water you are carrying. and you know what he replied? he replied, i know but when on the day of judgement, Almighty asks where were you when my beloved was being burned, i would at least be able to say that i was one of those trying to put out the fire....
Well... I also dint see the video. I cant stand the sight.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you about making the difference. You could surely have made it had you been there but you can do it even now... by standing up against this injustice, by teaching the upcoming generation to stand by the right and always fight for their rights and never to give up.... and most importantly to have a very strong link with Almighty....
agreed with you hassnain... Even people selling newspapers on roads are chanting like "bomb blast killed 100 people. Firing killed 50 people" to increase the sales of their newspapers.
ReplyDeleteand what i hate the most is media asking questions to the family members of the deceased "how did you feel when yu heard your beloved died? did you ever think this will happen?" what the hell????
but again i guess, we are only good at talking. noone is going to take a stand and the one who does , his voice is put to rest just like in Rang de basanti.... and we are so cold blooded, so heartless that we dont even standup wth those who are willing to take stand... Today again the lines of T.S eliot are ringing in my head
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Shape without form, shade without colour
Paralyzed force, gesture without motion.
I know this is after a very long time, still, better late than never.
ReplyDeleteI won't address your whole comment yet. Time is a rare commodity this time of year as you yourself know. I'll just say this. I haven't seen Kung Fu panda yet. Why would you ruin a movie for me? I wanted to watch that! :P
As always, thank you for the appreciation :)
ReplyDeleteIts really alarming. At first we were apalled. Then we were afraid. Then we were numb. Now, it's entertainment. Death is just something used to sell newspapers and run news channels now.
From the little bit of law that I've studied my opinion is, if the officer was following SOPs then once the suspect was shot, it was his responsibility to ensure that he received proper medical attention. Of course, I'm no judge. Perhaps thats what he should have thought as well.
ReplyDeleteToo late to say such things now. You're right. We're as cold as a body lying lifeless. The question remains, what is the shock that will wake us up?