by Aysha Raja
Last weekend saw the widespread condemnation and sustained social media campaign against Maya Khan culminate with the firing of the contentious host from Samaa TV. I would proudly have claimed it a blow against the increasingly oppressive bhaigarat brigade, had the word “blow” not dredged up some disturbing imagery of it’s own.
Dissent, in the wake of the unfortunate episode of Subah Saverey Maya kay Sath, swamped the interwebs in all shapes and forms (jokes, doctored photos, spoofs, what have you.) All seemed to indicate that Maya Khan, through her abhorrent behavior, had crossed a line that all decent citizenry found themselves on the other side of- an easy argument to make, unless like Osman Khalid Butt you’re willing to hop across the divide to gain a few cheap laughs/hits of your own.
Osman has clocked up a decent number of views on his youtube video ‘” ‘PG-Rated Pyaar Ki Dushman’ starring Maya Khan”, which satirizes the morning show and sermonized on how it could have been better utilized to “educate and enlighten the younger generation”, than to chase hapless couples in parks. He proceeds to illustrate that Maya Khan would be best dealt with, if encountered, by his fist meeting her face. Real classy stuff Osman. There maybe more to the spoof, but the moment of staged violence against a woman left me reeling.
What exactly was Osman trying to say, since the purpose of a video blog is to make a statement? Did Maya Khan cross all bounds of decent behavior that a smack down seemed a deserved form of retribution (ironically the same rational most perpetrators of violence against women frequently seek sanctuary); or did he believe he could take certain liberties with accepted social norms in the name of satire? I would hazard a guess he intended the latter.
Satire, almost always resides within a context. In the case of Maya Khan it was the national outrage born of her actions. I’m sure Osman wished to only shock us into taking corrective action to set the media and ourselves back on the right track. Sadly his methods were flawed and revealed a lack of sensitivity and awareness of the ills that plague our nation. I needn’t draw up a set of statistics to remind you of our woeful record of violence against women.
“Lighten up,” I hear you say, “It’s only a joke.” I wouldn’t hesitate to agree with you, if we were making great strides to counter violence against women; if we could effectively prosecute domestic violence rife from the upper echelons of society (from which no doubt Osman hails) through to the poor and neglected.
If Osman felt his audience was evolved enough to handle the kind of irreverent satire that characterizes shows like South Park, I’d like to remind him that he’d be hard pressed to find significant support for some of South Parks more controversial shows from amongst those who “liked” his video. Let’s not fool ourselves that we’re there yet.
Let me be clear. I don’t think Osman owes me or any other woman an apology because his video reeks of hypocrisy. What worries me is how few people recognized that a moral point was being made at the end of a fist- albeit an educated and privileged one. Where and how did we develop the stomach for that kind of “vigilantism”?
Aysha Raja is a literary critic, publisher and a bookseller based in Lahore
