Teachers? Kill'em

By Tipu Salman Makhdoom

KARACHI: Assailants on Wednesday shotdead an assistant professor of the University of Karachi (KU) in Federal B area.

........

Police in Jan 2015 had claimed the arrest of a suspect who had allegedly confessed to his involvement in the murders of Karachi University dean of Islamic Studies Prof Dr Shakeel Auj and Prof Syed Sibte Jafar.

Earlier this month, the vice-principal of the Jinnah Medical and Dental College's student affairs wing Debra Lobo was shot and seriously injured on Shaheed-e-Millat Road in Karachi.

Dawn, 29th April, 2015

Killing the teachers? Well it's not that bad idea after all. 

For one, they deserve it. They have lost the initiative to teach. They are no more interested in exposing the brewing humanity to the wonders of exploring, experimenting and understanding. They are not capable of showing the pupils wonders of critical thinking. And they are no more worthy of instilling the good values in new generation. So why keep them?  Just kill them.

True as it is, this horrible truth lies in the realms of metaphor rather than an actual pool of hot, fresh and liver-red little pool of human blood. Killing such terrible teachers imply exchanging them with good teachers. Teachers about which I heard a joke few decades ago; a joke that I am not sure if it was a joke or a lesson of life long wisdom.

A panicking man came to Stalin and said,  "we are ruined, Soviet doctors have gone corrupt". Stalin said in grace "we are a great nation, we will survive". Then came another person and said "Stalin we are ruined, our judges have gone corrupt". Stalin replied calmly "we are a great nation, we will survive". Then came a third person and said "Stalin we are ruined,  our teachers have gone corrupt". Stalin got horrified this time and said "we are ruined indeed".

Finding out that a large majority of our teachers are actually pathetic, calls for a reaction which should result in improving their lot and replacing the incurable (disease-like-teachers). Certainly not murdering them in cold blood.

Starting from Socrates, killing teachers has always been a bad move for humanity. 

Don't kill them. Teach them, improve them, even replace them. But don't kill them. 

That's not what they deserve. Even for teaching badly!

Hear Me, I Exist!

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

I have an email account, a facebook account, a twitter account, and now a blog (all of these free though). I send a lot of emails, even more tweets, further more facebook status updates and sharings, and on top of all that, now I want to write blogs. Why?

Kids & gods

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

We love our children; indeed for multiple reasons.

For one they are our heirs. They will take care of our belongings after we will be forced to leave them (both) in peace. Second they will remember us (occasionally) after our death (to no visible benefit to our dead bodies though).

Philosophically,  they carry our genes (only half of them) and follow our traditions (not any more). And so they represent us in this world after our death.

But most importantly, children are the Noah's ark in the flood of non-existence; they are the holy grails. Kids are the other world where we spend our afterlives.

Genes are the only part of our physical existence that we leave behind in this world. In the face of death, which is the decomposer of existence, we keep existing in our genes. And child is the only medium through which this is possible. It is the only possible carrier of our genes. Thus a child is the heavens where we live after death. Without a child, black hole of death will devour us into non-existence.

We love our kids because we love our lives and don't want them to end. And we don't want our lives to end because we love ourselves and don't want to lose ourselves, ever.

We are the gods!

My Relation to God

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

What is my relation to God? Why has He created me? What does He want from me? 

Tough questions? Important but not pressing! The pressing one is coming.

How does God want me to live?

Depends on what does He want from me? Which in turn depends on why has He created me?

Taking the trail from between, what does He want from me? I can find this out on finding Him; discovering Him.

How should I discover Him? By following the path that tradition tells me or by my own efforts? If I try to choose my own path, there is a strong possibility that I will take the wrong path. Is it worth taking the risk?

Example: A father plays hide and seek with his two kids. And he gives them a hint where he is hiding. One kid is not very enthusiastic in finding him but he is on the right track. The other, though on the wrong track, is very enthusiastic in finding him and is trying hard. Which kid will the father love more?

My Relation to Life

My Relation to Life

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

Strange though it sound, its complex. Life, which is the very essence of my existence is not me. Its in me but that's not all I am.

Life, to which my relation is dubious, is itself very dubious. It could not have been defined as yet. Of some properties which are said to constitute the very essence of it is self-reproduction. Cool. But with the development of Artificial Intelligence this "distinction" too is blurring. Its no more unthinkable that soon robots will be able to self-reproduce themselves!

When I will be no more, life will still be there. When life will not be there, I will be no more. I am dependent on life, but is life dependent on me too? Perhaps.

With all organic creatures destroyed, life will cease to exist. It might not be dependent on me alone, but it does depend on "organic" creatures; certain complex formations of atoms. 

Is it an entity which lives in organic complexes? Or maybe it is the "complexion" of a complex formation.

Strange but relevant. Confusing but important. Conceptual but real.

Religion & Rationality

Religion & Rationality

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

Previously published in Pak Tea House, Academia & SSRN

Education is useless! This applies to the phenomenon we choose to call “Education” in Pakistan. Ignoring what it refers to in the far away meadows of the modern world, we dub literacy based gimmickry as Education. And then wonder why it is not producing same results that it does in other parts of the world. Degrees and the degrees upon degrees offer no help.

Democracy is a Government of Questions

Democracy is a Government of Questions

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

Mr Qamar of the PPP said the assembly was not getting its due respect and asked: “For how long this house will function only as a debating society” and where else in the world ministers refrain from coming to parliament?

Daily Dawn, 24th April, 2015

Internal view of the National Assembly (Legislature) of Pakistan

I have to admit that even the worst performance of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in their last tenure cannot tarnish the force of this quote. Our Legislatures are working mainly as debating societies and rubber stamps. Debating to show that they are performing their function and rubber stamping the actions of the Executive branch; the government.

Evolution of Human Rights: From Natural Rights to Postmodernism

EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: FROM NATURAL RIGHTS TO POSTMODERNISM

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

I-         INTRODUCTION:

“[W]ar crimes are being committed in special women’s concentration camps where little girls, girls and women are being raped in the presence of their parents, brothers and sisters, husbands or children. After that, according to witnesses’ statements, the raped persons are further brutalized and even massacred, their breasts are sliced off and their wombs are ripped out….The young girls couldn’t physically survive the rapes and quickly died…..[O]ver 300 young girls in The Home for Retarded Children were raped.”[1] 

Politics of Religion: Ahmadis of Pakistan

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

1- INTRODUCTION

Recognition of freedom to profess faith according to one’s unfettered belief is a recent phenomenon. Innumerable wars and uncountable murders have been committed on the question of who believes in which God or god and in which manner. This had been a very sad state of affairs. In modern times, with the dominance of reason over the dogmatic and irrational thinking of humanity, it was slowly realized by the people at the helm of the affairs that it is a very private matter of a human as to what he wants to, and what he in fact believes are the metaphysical realities of the life and the universe, and as long as he is not hurting others, it is his fundamental right to have whatever belief he wants to have.

Do Harsh Punishments Reduce Crimes?

DOES CHOPPING OFF WITH A BIGGER KNIFE CHOPS OFF MORE?

IS THERE ANY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HARSHNESS OF A PUNISHMENT AND ITS DETERRENCE?

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom
Previously published in All Pakistan Legal Decisions Journal section (PLD 2014 Journal 98), SSRN & Academia

The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience….

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

INTRODUCTION:

Punishment, to say the least, is horrible;[1] a conscience and deliberate infringement of rights of a person, on behalf of the society. Just as in a living body—a biological society—a cell loses its individuality and is liable to be eliminated if it starts working against the living system of which it is a part; so does a person loses his individuality in a human society and is liable to infringement of his rights (punishment) if s/he starts working against the political decisions of the society.

Doctrine of Necessity

LEGALIZING THE ILLEGALITY: RE-INCARNATION OF DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY IN NUSRAT BHUTTO CASE[1]

by Tipu Salman Makhdoom

INTRODUCTION:

Doctrine of State Necessity was first adopted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan[2] in the first decade of creation of Pakistan; validating the extra-Constitutional steps of Governor General of Pakistan. Before expiration of another two decades, this doctrine was overruled[3] by the Supreme Court. However, when General Zia ul Haq imposed Martial Law in 1977, Supreme Court distinguished the overruling Asma Jilani’s[4] case and relying on the earlier case of  Special Reference of 1955[5], legalized the imposition of Martial Law[6], on the basis of Doctrine of Necessity.