THE TELEVISION CATASTROPHE

Television in Pakistan, like other things in life has gone through many phases or eras. From the black and white days of 1964, when the transmission only came on for an hour daily to the now dazzling and glamorous array of numerous twenty-four hour channels. Television has seen many ups and downs; the down primarily occurring in Zia Ul Haq’s time, when television seemed to be shackled in various bounds and almost everything seemed to be censured. At present, television seems to be at its highest peak, and almost the whole country seems to be on cloud 9 seeing the immense growth that television has made. In my opinion, television of the present time is at its worst point. And to explain my point of view, I will have to take you to the basics, so fasten your seat belts because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

The basic reason for that “idiot box” to be in our homes is to entertain but also to educate us. Nowadays, there is an immense amount of entertainment but absolutely no education seen on that black screen. The most important change that is working against television nowadays, is that we have completely forgotten that we live in The “Islamic” Republic of Pakistan! Apart from two channels, which are completely based on Islamic teachings, one no longer sees any channel even remotely showing that we live in an Islamic state. The dramas are filled with female actors prancing about in sleeveless dresses and capris, showing much more skin than should be allowed. We have left are social and religious values way behind in our race to become an internationally known television medium. The dialogues in some of the plays seen on private channels today are so vulgar and improper that no self-conscious person could ever watch it with their families. The second and most important thing, which I consider as the downfall of television are the pointless and meaning less parade of morning shows shown on every channel. The “point” to these so called morning shows, is to entertain the housewives, but did someone even bother to ask them what a normal housewife would gain from their show, except just feel bad for herself that she can never afford the pretty and expensive dress that the host is wearing! Because these morning shows contain nothing else but useless gossip.

The main focus is on quantity and not quality.The various choices of channels has made our youth restless and impatient, flipping channels every second, and not being able to bear one glimpse of a commercial. We have completely uprooted ourselves, and the way things are going nowadays, I think in about five years no God fearing person would have any space on his trolley or in his heart for a television set. We think about so many catastrophes in our country, I think it’s about time that we give our attention to this one!