Karma Police - Language as a WOK

 There is a song by Radiohead titled Karma Police that conveys the abstract belief of karma. Karma is held as a strong belief by many and the lyrics of this song as well as the visuals clearly portray the concept behind what goes around comes around. The first part of the song is, “Karma police, arrest this man he talks in math, he buzzes like a fridge, he’s like a detuned radio” The language of this line refers to the fact that people take bad actions without a reason, they buzz like a fridge, like a detuned radio where they are annoying and constant and should therefore be "arrested" by the Karma police. Towards the end, the song's line says, "Karma police, I've given all I can, it's not enough/ I've given all I can, I'm still on the payroll" indicating that they have gone through enough, and are still waiting for justice, or payback going back to the initial meaning of karma being cause and effect. The music video of the song is about a car with a man in the backseat that is chasing another man. The car continue to chase him throughout the song but by the end it approaches the man and reverses leaving a trail of fuel to which the man lights a match and alights it, and the sparked fire chases the car all the way back until the car explodes into flames. The language of the song and the visuals both convey the faith in karma, the belief that anything you do will actually bring the outcome of what will happen. This started off as being a Buddhist and Jain tradition, the cycle of cause and effect, to convince people to do good deed, but upon experiences observed by humans over the years it became a phenomenon with karma being a widely recognized belief and people using it as an excuse as at any point they can. The song demonstrates that people await karma to get back to those who have done them wrong just as in the music video where the car represents the perpetrator and the spark is karma that gets back to it. 

How we know or that we know?

“Is it important how I know or that I know?”

I was watching an episode of Suits, which happens to be my favourite show these days and at one point, Donna, the secretary of a Closer discovers that the associate he has hired did not actually go to Harvard Graduate school and when she says so in casual conversation, he anxiously asks, “How do you know?” to which she responds, “Is it important how I know or that I know?” That got me thinking on a larger scale about whether it actually is important where the knowledge came from or that the person has acquired it. Personally when people state something, I instinctively ask, "how do you know? where did that come from?" It's just something we do. However, I think there are various kinds of knowledge where the source is important and others where it just isn't. In math or natural sciences or anything that requires a definite answer, it is extremely important to question it and find out who said it, whereas in areas of knowledge such as the arts or ethics, there are some things where people do not know how it is known, but rather just accepted anyway. A literary piece about imaginative concepts is not going to be asked how the writer knows what they have written, but a thesis would be. Similarly with ethics no one can answer how they know a certain deed is morally wrong, it just is based on its regard in society and on a conscientious level. It also depends on the pragmatism of the proposition of knowledge, if it is something that does not have a lot of value then it will not be scrutinized much whereas something that holds a lot of importance would constantly be. 

Blasphemy Laws

Blasphemy laws are a very controversial subject, especially residing in a country like Pakistan where it is taken into account greatly. However what does surprise me is that in the same classroom we can have such strongly opposing views regarding it. We were discussing secularism in class, how Mustafa Kemal formed the state of Turkey and how Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be designed on the basis of those premises. We were taking notes on all of this when Mr. Walton began telling us a story about a British teacher who named a teddy bear Muhammad on the request of the students in her class. We thought the measures taken against her were great seeing as it was Muslim students or rather kids who had chosen the name and not her, but then Mr. Walton asked a question, something like "Would anyone be offended if I named my dog [the same name as the teacher had named the teddy bear]" I expected someone to say something but no one did and I realized I was the only one who was affected by this, to the extent where I do not like to restate the question although I know that is a bit silly. To be honest, I was not offended that Mr. Walton had asked the question and he even told me he didn't mean to offend me later on, but rather, I was offended that no one else in the class could raise their hand for something that ought to be culturally disrespectful to us. I understand that they are being open minded but not to the extent where we forget about what we should defend and what we shouldn't. Or maybe that was just their honest response that it doesn't offend them at all, for which I don't know what to say because I tend to have very contrasting views to others and just agree to disagree. In fact, the others just horribly criticize and lambaste religious scholars who are against these sorts of things. I am not saying that the scholars are right in the actions that they take, but that doesn't mean we should stop seeing their point of view as well. They learn only from what is being taught to them which is an altered and misinterpreted version of Islam and if they take extreme measures based on the backgrounds that they have and the little schooling they receive doesn't mean we should not understand WHY they think and feel a certain way. I feel that sometimes, our open-mindedness makes us narrow to understanding other points of view. Instead of us all trying to defend our culture and stating that yes, indeed measures to this extent can be debated on and in some cases are too extreme, but in your example, naming your dog that for no reason at all IS offensive to Muslims because why else would anyone do that if there are countless names out there? The question in itself was understandable, however I think the response just was just against what I think is right and I found it interesting that we had such different views coming from kids who are primarily from the same country and have been in the same school. Ultimately, what I think is right is probably not right for them so I am no one to speak for this, but this was something I felt strongly about and I just feel that people should retain their cultural identity and say what they feel, and if they are so detached from their culture, they should at least attempt to understand the minds of those who are affected by this and take action instead of bad-mouthing them and calling them illiterate because they are obviously much less affluent than anyone who attends this school. I think understanding other points of view is one of the keys to gaining knowledge. If we don't try to comprehend who goes through their mindset, how will we know why they do these things, how it can be prevented, and other questions that could be answered through analysing their stance on the subject.