The former chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Justice (r) Wajeeuddin have filed petitions in the Supreme Court against television channels, which, according to the petitioners, are spreading vulgarity in the society.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed went one step further and asked people on social media to help the party curb vulgarity. The poster issued on the social media by the party asked people to make a list of all television channels and programmes which show vulgarity. A media commentator lightly joked, saying Qazi Hussain Ahmed wants people to have a last peek on the scantily clad ladies before they are banned from television.
Vulgarity, like all social terms, is a relative term and varies from person to person and from time to time. What may be vulgar for one family, may be a norm for the other. Some people consider the advertisement of female sanitary napkins on television channels to be vulgar whereas some consider them a simple hygiene product. Some people find dances vulgar others pay thousand of rupees to learn them.
The Supreme Court referred the matter to the media regulatory authority in Pakistan, which right now is having rounds of meetings on the issue. Social analysts would have appreciated if the court had consulted some more Khalil Gibran and his work of art before finding the petition worthy of being heard.
Apparently, the first meeting of the regularity authority remained inconclusive on defining vulgarity. According to media reports, the participants of the meeting wanted to have a clear definition of the word vulgarity before proceeding further. A suggestion to refer the matter to the Islamic Ideology Council was not appreciated.
Had the matter been referred to the council, the outcome would have been a sort of media policy where only male faces are shown on the television screens except young beautiful children because someone may find them vulgar as well.
Society is transitive in nature. Things that were taboo a few decades ago do not perturb people now. In the post-World War II England, naked calves of women were considered to be vulgar and termed as social pollution of changing times and now no one talks about those calves.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed went one step further and asked people on social media to help the party curb vulgarity. The poster issued on the social media by the party asked people to make a list of all television channels and programmes which show vulgarity. A media commentator lightly joked, saying Qazi Hussain Ahmed wants people to have a last peek on the scantily clad ladies before they are banned from television.
Vulgarity, like all social terms, is a relative term and varies from person to person and from time to time. What may be vulgar for one family, may be a norm for the other. Some people consider the advertisement of female sanitary napkins on television channels to be vulgar whereas some consider them a simple hygiene product. Some people find dances vulgar others pay thousand of rupees to learn them.
The Supreme Court referred the matter to the media regulatory authority in Pakistan, which right now is having rounds of meetings on the issue. Social analysts would have appreciated if the court had consulted some more Khalil Gibran and his work of art before finding the petition worthy of being heard.
Apparently, the first meeting of the regularity authority remained inconclusive on defining vulgarity. According to media reports, the participants of the meeting wanted to have a clear definition of the word vulgarity before proceeding further. A suggestion to refer the matter to the Islamic Ideology Council was not appreciated.
Had the matter been referred to the council, the outcome would have been a sort of media policy where only male faces are shown on the television screens except young beautiful children because someone may find them vulgar as well.
Society is transitive in nature. Things that were taboo a few decades ago do not perturb people now. In the post-World War II England, naked calves of women were considered to be vulgar and termed as social pollution of changing times and now no one talks about those calves.
