I recently came across an article published in The Nation. The article in short basically talks about a Pakistani-American woman named Farah Ahmed standing for election in Sugarland City council in Texas and how the US state of Texas has denounced all personal propaganda created against her for being of Pakistani origins.
I come across individuals on a daily basis who insist that US is a terrorist state, hell-bent on feeding off of us. They inaccurately try to make a link between terrorist attacks and drone strike and try to justify these terror attacks. They claim we are fighting a war that is not ours (34,000 Pakistani casualties say otherwise). In a fit of rage and resentment, they despise US just for the sake of proving their discontentment with the ongoing politics and situation, going as far as blaming the US for this “mess” that we are in, in the first place. All of this is reinforced by TV anchors and journalists who make anti-American rants and conspiracy theories.
In America, a Pakistani woman can run for a government position in Texas and anti-Pakistan propaganda is condemned by officials. Can we honestly say that a gora would receive the same respect in Pakistan
? My question to all of the readers is this: if the US state of Texas, has denounced an attempt to tarnish the image of a Pakistani-American woman candidate for the city council, why cant we show the same respect and stop judging the Americans based on our media propaganda?
It makes me want to think that why is it we find it convenient to blame Americans for all our problems and fail to notice the rogue organizations in our country and killing innocent people in the name of Jihad? Are the lives of innocent civilians that cheap that we can hide behind the veil of our own anger towards the US and neglect the atrocities carried out by these terrorists?
The biggest irony is that while most Pakistanis and Muslims around the globe might have anti-American sentiments, the vast majority of Pakistanis aspires and dreams to obtain a green card by any means necessary, and fantasize about immigrating to the US. It is also a fact that each day hundreds of Pakistanis and natives of other developing countries, pay thousands of dollars for forging documents and passports just for the chance to land on American soil and work under the radar. Most of the time such people also falsely claim asylum as soon as they land at the port of entry, citing a threat to their life.
Terrorism is a complex issue as explained by Ahsan Butt and in my humble opinion, Pakistan’s long-term interests are very much aligned with those of the US whether we want it or not. This does not mean that we have to agree with everything America does or do everything that America asks, but we should be honest at least. What does it say if Americans will condemn anti-Pakistan sentiments in their country but no one will condemn anti-Americanism here? It is no secret that anti-Americanism has increased by a tenfold in the last few years and the middle-class is the most vocal group about it, let there be no mistake about it: this increasing prosperous middle class will be the first to suffer if we let fundamentalists and terrorists take over the country.
Obviously this is a tactic for showing us that they don’t “hate” us, do you really think she will be elected, most likely not.
[…] my last article I asked the readers if it is justified to have Anti-American sentiments after I had come across an […]
Very narrow scope of thought on this article.
Biased, boring and pro-USA … not worth the time to read.
Thanks so much for this article. It’s interesting…I’ve been reading a bit of research on the nature of anti Americanism. To be honest with you, I do think that there is some justification to anti Americanism worldwide. Ever sense the country’s founding, the attitude has often been a :us vs. the world mentality when it comes to being a citizen there. The government from founding on, has often based policies on this logic. While I once supported these policies, I now feel that they were flawed and that we must have a new approach to the world. That being said, could there be other reasons for this ism? Perhaps…. Jealousy of American society, wealth, a lack of understanding of just what America is about, the good and bad parts? Still, I wish your country well and hope for a world one day that will shrug off the idea of the nation state and there will be on one people in the world: humanity. As a united species perhaps then we can all strive to do great things….a bit naïve? Perhaps…but it is my ultimate hope. The U.S.A. may be severely flawed but I like the ideal it was founded on, not the reality. To me, being born American means being born into a war where I must strive for a better future where one day all people will be equal and the country will one day not be so interventionist.
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