My glasses, My worldview

 I used to work in an English newspaper when I was a teenager. That newspaper belonged to a group that published a right wing ideological Urdu newspaper.  However, surprisingly, this English newspaper was completely different from its Urdu-bound brother.  The paper promoted some of the most modern trends, with relatively secular thinkers writing columns, the editorial board consisting mostly of modern English-speaking journalists, fashionable bearded editors, and the reporting department.  It consisted of young people who were called 'Mod Scouts' at the time.  When I was recruited in the reporting section of the newspaper, a new world appeared to me.  This world was very different from what I had experienced at that time. I came from the house where the same ideological Urdu newspaper was read for years. My father used to write columns in it.  And the journalists had to come and go, everything I heard in the gatherings of these great elders was taught in my school.  Thus, at an early age, I became a 'worldview' and to see the world, I put on a pair of spectacles through which I could see only the things that matched my worldview.  I looked down on all other ideologies and considered those with opposing views to be extremely stupid. Unlike the English newspaper, the world of Urdu newspaper was exactly according to my worldview, its office was also on the fourth floor of the same building.  No reporter of English newspaper liked to go to the floor of Urdu newspaper but I often went to the office of Urdu newspaper and sat down. The journalists and reporters there had my thoughts, I did not feel alienated there.  Short story short, the English newspaper could not spoil my ideological worldview, the spectacle of their ideology which was put on me at home, school and college did not come out of my eyes.

 Time passed  Leaving the newspaper job, I got a job in the government. There I got another lens, the lens of the government's point of view. Our training was such that we became accustomed to seeing everything only in the light of government reports.  I didn't realize that a point of view is public and that it can be right. But I soon got rid of that lens, probably because of my journalistic background and the habit of investigative reporting that brought me to the table.  Sitting on the other side gave people a chance to see things from a public point of view.  But during this time I had many more spectacles, one of them was the spectacle of nationalism, through these spectacles I could only see that there is no other nation in the world more intelligent and capable than the Pakistani nation.  There was also a spectacle of sectarianism.  The beauty of this spectacle was that it showed me only the 'facts' that went in favor of my sect, I did not see the arguments of the opposing sect and what was written in their books and so I understood that my sect  All theories are correct and all other sects are wrong. One lens was purely masculine.  The feature of this spectacle was that it only showed the point of view of men. Beyond this spectacle, I did not see any problem of women's freedom. I thought that the result of women's freedom in our country would be the same as in the West.  What is happening to a woman where a woman travels standing in a bus and no man leaves space for her. I also wore a small spectacle of community, through this spectacle I think only Kashmiri community is superior in the world.  Yes, I thought that Kashmiris not only have good food and good looks but they also make a name for themselves in whatever field they are in.  In addition, I had some spectacles on my eyes, but all I had in common was that I never realized that I was wearing any spectacles, on the contrary, a person like me thought that his  The eye is six by six and he can easily see anything near and far without any glasses.

 It took me many years to get rid of all these glasses.  Three things helped me get rid of these glasses.  The habit of traveling, reading and asking questions.  Travel and study are still nothing special to me, but I must check before admitting anything. Nevertheless, I think that even today I must have some spectacles that I do not know, the only difference  That is, before adopting any theory, I must try to check whether I am looking at it from a particular point of view.  The method of this test is to ask yourself what litmus test will be used to prove the theory if you have to prove it wrong and then the theory will be proved wrong as a result.  If this litmus test seems difficult, just ask yourself one question: Are your ideas the same today as they were in childhood, boyhood, and adolescence, or have your ideas generally not changed in the last ten or twenty years?  If at any point you find the arguments in favor of your ideology weak, did you dare to reject these ideologies or stick to them under the pressure of society?  Find an honest answer to these questions, hopefully you'll find out how many glasses you're wearing!