There is no way to censor or control the flow of information. It’s like saying you are going to block roads and not let people move around. There are always alternate channels, nooks, crannies, alleyways and openings. Believe it or not, it’s not a free world, but it has immense flexibility for us to work with.

I have a comment involving the manner in which people tend to protest and wanted to share it on this forum.

Dancing lawyers on the television don’t make much of an impacting statement. In fact, they make me want to change the channel. Riots make me feel frightened of change and feel sadness at the loss of life. But I’ll tell you a kind of protest that I will willingly participate in.

If the Government attempts to control the flow of information through newspapers and newsreaders, why won’t publishers just print blank pages where there SHOULD have been news? Why won’t producers produce the same program and air a segment without sound? That’s a silent, peaceful protest involving millions of people. Imagine the impact it can have. What would happen if one print run covered NOTHING about the Government? If Institutions wish to exert control over information ABOUT them, then I think we are ignoring the fact that the Daily News companies own the presses and pages where this information is ultimately printed on.

We tend to forget that as much as the Institution needs the media platforms as much as we need them. It’s a perfectly unhappy marriage filled with hatred and deceit. I’d imagine if our media platforms were strong enough, they would call for these drastic measures in these drastic times.

Pakistan is at the start of a Media Revolution - We just need to use these openings more effectively.

Can I ask a serious question of all Pakistanis? I mean seriously…. Are we stupid? Don’t we have enough sense to know when people are lying to us and taking us for a ride? Why do we keep supporting and electing the same people to our government and then complain that they aren’t doing anything? Hello!!!! They didn’t do anything the last time you elected them, what makes you think this time would be different?

Now, I would like to say that this has to do with education, but even the educated ex-pats fall into this process of supporting losers. Or is it because everything that I have said so far as been dead on and we actually deserve to be the way that we are today?

Sadly, most Pakistanis make decisions based on name recognition and family backgrounds, but never make a judgment based on the character and deeds of the person before them. If that were to happen, Pakistan would change overnight. Now, I know that you would like to believe that you don’t have any other choices than what is already there. If you believe that, you aren’t stupid… that would be an under statement. Until you start giving other people chances to serve this nation, you will never know what other choices there are.

Just think of it this way, until we change this vicious cycle, we are just puppets in someone else’s nasty ego game.

You take your family out to dinner and have a little au pair sitting along side to take care of your children. You order large meals for everyone, while passing breadsticks and water to the au pair… are you serious? Would you like someone to do that to your child?

Let’s turn the table… your boss takes you out to lunch with some of your co-workers. He orders lavish lunches for each of them, while telling you that there will be so much food, you can get some from everyone. How would you feel? Does small and insignificant even come close to describing the feeling? Why would you do that to someone else?

Hey, here’s an idea… how about you take care of your own children? Why don’t you take responsibility for the little lives that you have brought into the world, rather than passing them off on hired hands? You know why kids in the rest of the world are better behaved and more intelligent? Because their parents raise them, not the driver, maid and nanny.

And since we are on the topic… are you stupid? Do you even know what compassion means? Why do you take the servant with you when you go shopping for your kids clothes and toys? Do you relish the pain that you cause them knowing that they can never, and I do mean never, afford anything in that store?

We are a people that flaunt wealth in front of the poor. Why else would we feel it necessary to not pay the government property and income tax, have billions in loans written off and all the while buy ourselves Mercedes Benz and multi-million rupee homes. Did you know that a small home for a newly married family in Karachi costs a minimum of Rs. 20,000,000? That’s US$ 330,000 for your first home. And that gets you… no clean water, no clear sewer lines, no security and no protection. What a deal!!! Or you could go for the apartment which will cost you slightly less with all the same perks… what does the common man do?

And while I am on the topic, to all of you shop keepers, what makes you think that it is right to raise, no sorry… double your prices, during Ramadan. Do you think that just because it is a holy month you can gouge people and make the month of fasting harder for them, while it becomes easier for you? They have a word for that in Islam… Haram…

Yesterday was one of the darkest days in Pakistan’s rich history. One of our most trusted institutions was violated here and here.

Yesterday, Geo News was broadcasting the protesters in front of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in Islamabad, that were objecting to the Judicial hearing against Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftekhar. During this coverage, Geo News broke to another area of Islamabad, Blue Area, where police and protesters had started throwing rocks at each other, and the police were firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Most of you have seen the coverage on the international news channels.

While this was going on…. A small band of Punjab police officers stormed the Geo News offices in Islamabad shattering windows, firing tear gas and rubber bullets, and assaulting employees of the company. A small band of police officers.

This was broadcast live on Geo News. Read more »