Malala and Opinions

At the end of any pointless argument people end up saying “you are entitled to your own opinion and I am to mine”. Why then  would you like to waste three hours of your life trying to impose your opinion on someone else  or even bothering to ask what they think about the issue? The reason is simple. Sometimes these discussions are actually beneficial. A well drawn conclusion can help solve a few problems. However, usually arguments just lead to a bad throat.  Nowadays people argue for the sake of having an argument.

I was having a debate with a friend a couple of months ago. The discussion was heating up fast and getting a bit personal. I thought it would be best to drop the argument there and then but my friend refused and I quote “let’s continue. In the end one of us will win and the other will lose”. I might be naïve but I don’t think the point of having a discussion is to declare someone victorious based on how great his or her opinion is on a particular topic.

So yeah anyway. I am not against discussions. I am against having an opinion. At this some of you might think that I have gone completely bonkers. Even though that’s entirely true, I think I have a point. Bear with me if you like…. or can. Nowadays the media bombards us with information here and there. Whether it be printed news, tv channels or even social media, the information pool that we have access to is huuuuge. While this may be very nice in a way, it also creates problems. First of all we never get the complete picture. Secondly we cant really know what the truth is.

What my sister’s friend told me about her maid’s previous owner’s daughter might be as accurate as what JEO TV plays every hour on its stupid channel. If anyone of you is associated with the channel, my apologies but I just hate they way they announce news with the dadhaan and dashhh sounds.

My point being that we might think we have loads and loads of knowledge on a subject of current affairs but I think the truth of the matter, in most cases, never reaches our eyes and ears. And thus based on incomplete and at times, fake facts, forming opinions and defending them against that of others as if one’s existence was on the line, seems pointless to me.

Recently a friend of mine, who has a great blog by the way check it out at  http://hellodogthisismyblog.blogspot.com/, asked me what my opinion was on the whole “Malala controversy”. Truth be told, I never bothered to make an opinion on it. I never tried to hunt people down with a different opinion and then blow them to bits by my points and facts.

This however is what I do know.

Malala is a very little girl by age but has had experiences that I might never have. Not many people take a bullet to the head, survive and go on to become a world symbol. I know for a fact that she did speak for her rights and her education. She might not have initially been that selfless but from what I have seen of her in her interviews she is trying to promote education along with child and women rights globally. Anyone who says these things deserves credit. Whether or not this is a publicity stunt, I don’t know. But at least she is saying all the right things that make sense.

Some people blame her for spreading a bad image of Pakistan. I disagree. I think she helped focus a lot of eyes on Pakistan and that automatically showed the world whats going on here. Was the projected image exaggerated? Yes maybe, but my background differs greatly from hers and our perspective is thus subjective. It is also true that people abroad only got to see one side of Pakistan because of Malala. The bad side, with the terrorism and no women rights etc. I guess we are the ones who should be blamed for not highlighting the positive aspects of Pakistan. No?

As far as; who is behind her, or who is benefiting from her campaign, or whether she is an international agent or not. These things I believe fall into the category of pointless discussions because even if she were a CIA agent as some people call her we will never actually find a signed contract or something saying ”I solemnly swear…”.

Why do people hate her? Maybe its because she got an honorary MS degree from a pretty good university while some of us are having trouble in getting our bachelors done. Maybe its because of the Canadian citizenship, the world tour or her tea parties with the leaders of the world.

So based on the things that I do know, I wish that Malala succeeds in her covert mission of spreading education. No pun intended.

End.

PS. This is the longest I have written in a while. I am sure I would have made grammatical and spellings and all other possible errors. My apologies for that.  

Someone who met me for the first time last week said “when you start talking it seems like you will say something really important but by the end one realizes that it’s not true”. Let me know if you agree with her.