CANCELING LIVES THROUGH CANCEL CULTURE


Cancel culture, also known as call-out culture, is a term used now a days to describe a type of exclusion from social or professional circles, whether it is online or in person. In this aspect, social media has changed the game. On Facebook, a huge number of individuals have the ability to criticize others actions or words, and organizing groups to take part in the public debate has never been simpler. From celebrities to influencers to politicians, everyone is cancelled every other day and all of us are promoting cancel culture in one way or another without even realizing.

An example of this could be the ex-prime minster, Imran Khan, who had eliminated all political adversaries, including Pervez Musharraf, the Sharif family, and Zardari, using the media and social media. Similarly, the opponent Sharif family are now doing the same things that they criticized Imran Khan for.

From firms to universities to colleges, at every level if you do not like something you make sure to make the person life a living hell for having an opinion different than yours. In Pakistan, people wear religion on their sleeves while criticizing others. Everyday someone is cancelled, some for their wordings, some for their dressings, some for their appearance, some for the lives they are born into. Everyone is ready to finish others life, but nobody ever wants to guide someone to the right path. It is always if I make a mistake, it is a mistake but if you make a mistake you should have known better.

In Islam, we are told to restrain the tongues, regulate our gaze, control our hands, and most importantly to be kind, however, people forget Islam when it is needed the most. In such a setting, the cancel culture can be used in extremely nasty ways.

Pakistani cancel culture went much beyond what is acceptable and severely violated human dignity in order to cancel Aamir Liaquat. He was the victim of viral revenge porn, but no one stood up for his honor as a fundamental human right. Nobody cares till you are dead, till then it is all “okay” because you did wrong not them. Similarly, Mashal Khan, a student was murdered due to a falsely accused blasphemy case. He was dragged out in the university and was killed by a bunch of people. Their explanation for the way they acted was that they were doing this for Islam. People use religion wherever they find it convenient.

Pakistan is an undisciplined country that longs for prosperity, security, and peace but refuses to put out the effort necessary to make it a reality. Everyone has so much hate in themselves for every person out there, nobody can consider someone else worthy of mistakes and chances. While the country behaves unethically and immorally, Pakistanis seek a just and wise ruler, as many of the people are promoted by the unjust judiciary systems which will never take action against such cases. We as a nation need to do right so many wrongs in order to survive.