By  Mowahid Hussain Shah

March 27, 2020

In the Same Boat

Washington, for much of the 21st century, has been consumed by the specter of manufactured threats – the Islamic threat, the Iranian threat, the Iraqi threat, the immigrant threat, the Russian threat, and the Chinese threat.
Comes now the real-life Coronavirus threat, which makes a mockery of the aforementioned threat perceptions. This threat is borderless, nontribal, nonsectarian, and nondiscriminatory. It is neither black, white, yellow, or brown. It is colorless, insidious, and invisible. The threat is not to the US but to us.
70 years ago, there was a movie made, “Panic in the Streets.” It depicted the imminent threat of a plague that provoked panic. That was 1950. In 2020, it is real-time facts imitating art. Those who profited from stoking fears of the “Other” are now entrapped in the cauldron of their own making, for which there is no vaccine.
COVID-19 virus is likely to reshape how the world lives.
In the short term, arguably, it could even affect Trump’s reelection prospects, in that people in a time of disarray seek a reassuring, stabilizing presence at the top. Biden could be the incidental beneficiary.
The past three decades have been marked by chest-thumping triumphal claims of being the sole superpower – claims that now appear puerile. Mother Nature has a way of occasionally reminding who is the actual Sole Superpower. Faith fights fear.
Western society already is plagued by an epidemic of loneliness, necessitating in Britain the formation of a Ministry of Loneliness. Ask those who have endured solitary confinement in jail what it does to mental health and the human condition.
Hardest hit are the sick, elderly, and the disabled. The slogan of social distancing may not work out for those who need more solace and companionship.
Social distancing is a counter-strike on the healing power of human contact, including hugs and handshakes. It can easily morph into every man for himself. Taken positively, it can be a teaching moment balancing self-vigilance with empathy for others.
Humanity is in the same boat. The transcendental threat now to human civilization exposes the fraudulent nature of the manufactured “clash of civilizations.” It is a salutary lesson particularly for the West which had been led to delude itself into a know-it-all and know-better posture. Can deep cleaning be an exterminator for superstitious fear? Self-questioning and self-correction beckons.
Avoiding individuals who are coughing or sneezing is sensible. However, when people start believing that lethal menace lurks in handshakes and on innocuous objects like elevator buttons, gas station pumps, restaurant counters, door knobs, and faucet handles, it is, in effect, the jailing of the mind. Frequent washing of the hands can do the needful.
When the need of the hour is prudence, not panic, extreme over-reaction can unleash its own unintended ripple effects, which may not be easy to mitigate.
COVID-19 2020 is a classic “black swan” event – a rare event, unexpected, unpredictable, and easier to examine on retrospective reflection. The term was popularized by Lebanon-born risk-theorist, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in his 2007 book, “The Black Swan.”
Discussion persists on how Nazism and Fascism spread so swiftly in “enlightened” Europe. Looking around today, one may observe the march of folly and the submissive capitulation to the herd mentality. Dread can become the coin of the realm when the mind is infected and over-tested with fear and paranoia.
Now may be the time for fresh inspiration and imagination.

 


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Election 2004: Decisive but Divisive

Muslim Youth & Kashmir in America

The Big Picture: Wealth without Vision

Oxygen to Global Unrest

Punishing the Punctual

Change without Change

Don’t Be Weak

Passionate Attachment

The Confidence of Youth

The Other Side of Democracy

Campaign of Defamation

Pakistani Women & the Legal Profession

A Pakistani Journey

Farewell to Fazal

Mukhtaran and Beyond

Revamping the OIC

7/7 & After

Nuclear Double-Standard

Return to Racism

Hollywood – The Unofficial Media

The Sole Superpower

The UN at 60

A Slow Motion World War?

Elite vs. Street

Iqbal Today

Macedonia to Multan

Defending our Own

2006 & Maulana Zafar Ali Khan

Error against Terror

The Limits of Power

Cultural Weaknesses

Aggressive at Home, Submissive Abroad

Global Storm

The Farce of Free Expression

The Changing Mood

Condi & India

Xenophobia

Looking inward

Re-Thinking

A Tale of Two Presidents

Close to Home

Flashpoint Kashmir

The Spreading Rage

Confronting Adversity

The Illusion of International Law

Other Side of Extremism

Five Years after 9/11

The Educated Ignorant

The Decline of Humor

Icons

Six Years of Insanity

The War Not Being Fought

Munir Niazi

Compliance & Defiance

Counter-Message

Miscast

The Goddess of Wealth

The Meaning of Moderation

The Tora Bora of Fear

Clash of Civility

The Early Race

Challenge & Response

Will & Skill

Zealotry

Movie-Media and Pakistan

Hug with a Thug

Quest for Integrity

Unconquered

Vanity

Bringing Back the Past

Stuck in Iraq

Islam, Science and the West

Turmoil over Turkey

Leaders versus Leadership

Might Does Not Make Right

Kursi First

Vision & Will

Battle of the Billionaires

Assassination Alley

Extremism and Change

Rosy Expectations

Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain

Not Winning

Beyond Baghdad: Five Years after

The Hijab of Democracy

Hate, Fear & Hope

Weapon of Words

Hide N’ Seek

Yanking in the UN

Obama’s Breakthrough

Let Lahore Be Lahore

National Mood & Sports

Flirting with Fire

Trips Abroad

Georgia on the Mind

Duel for the White House

Zia to Zardari

Palestine: Avoiding the Unavoidable 

Not Working 

In the Ring 

Obama’s America

Smiles & Dreams

Quiet Deeds of Good

Crime and Indifference

Journey of Understanding

VIP-hunting

Terror via Counter-Terrorism

Umpires or Vampires?

The Long Road

Yesterday’s Reminder

Appeasement and the Real Threat

Israel’s Washington Agenda

New Challenges

Cairo and Beyond

Re-fighting Old Battles

America ’s Super Villains

Activism in America

Style without Substance

Overcoming Barriers

Ashes to Afghanistan

The Looming Change

Fear and Possibilities

What Is Not Debated 

Hired Guns

Rampage at Fort Hood

Manmohan in Washington

The Long Duel

Green Nukes

Vision and Division

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Shame-proof

Anxiety and Opportunity

Putting Iraq in America

The Right Strategy

Looking Beyond

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Strategic Folly

Daring & Caring

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Sudan : Perils of Provincialism

Old Fears, New Target

Europe ’s Stain

The US-Pakistan Enigma

The Status Quo Is Unacceptable

9 Years after 9/11

License to Steal

US Muslims at the Crossroads

Tumor of Terror

An Arab Voice

Disastrous Decisions

Double Game

Sticky Wiki

What Quaid Was Not

Money Conspiracy

Pharaohs & Pirates

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Forty Years after 1971

Abandoning Our Own

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Osama and Obama

Tsunami of Tolerance

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No Easy Exit

Nation to Non-Nation

10 Years after 9/11

Shining India?

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Fight for Fairness

Republican Race

Actors or Directors

Speaking out

Professional Sycophants

More Provinces?

Too Much Information

Soft Separation

Soft Poison

Unemployment & Over-Population

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The Arab Awakening

Ben Bella

At University of Gujrat

Good People Behaving Badly

Playing Over-Smart

Do Less

Resisting the Resistible

Performance, Not PR

Home-grown Havoc

Salutation to the 65 th Year

Plague of Provincialism

USA Elections 2012

Rage

Fight or Flight

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Obama II

Me and We

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On Losing

Who Will Guard the Guards?

Loyal to Their Loot

Prevail or Fail

Perceptions and Reality

Toll of Occupation

Re-think, Re-examine, and Self-correct 

The Washington Tribe

Voice and Vision

Moral Slump

Wall of Illusion

Under One Banner

Bitter Harvest

Gallows and the Throne

Scent of Power

At a Standstill

Leaders and Leadership

The Deadline

Fighting Darkness

Distant Connections

Governance: The Long View

Discussion in DC

Darkness in the Mind

Killing Kennedy and Liaquat Ali

Yahya Khan Speaks on 1971

Quaid & Xmas in Washington

150 Years of FC College

Tyranny of Money

50 Years of Ali

A Dose of Truth

Little Guy, Big Impact

A Reassessment in Washington

Crimea & Kashmir

Democracy or Oligarchy?

Afghan Elites: Blaming Pakistan

Pitfalls of Intervention

Arabs in America

Never Give up

German Journey

Tyranny of Today

Manipulating Language

March & Match

Destroyers

Out of Darkness

Modi in America

Awareness or Fairness?

Mideast Maze

Easy Scapegoats

Freedom to Insult

Journey of Recovery

Mental Colonialism

Letters from a Grandfather

Power Imbalance

Discord and Division

Colloquium at Capitol Hill

Washington Lauds Gharib Nawaz

Balkan Lessons

Pivot from the Mideast

American Campus & Mideast Turmoil

Muslim Father; Two Americans

Challenging Fear

Victim Mentality

X & Ali

Fake Democracy?

Irresponsible Passivity

Erosion of Ethics

Dragon of Hate

Extreme in the Mainstream

Ugly Times

Pakistani Summer in England

Speaking Haq

At the Oval

Britain Beware

East in West

Trump Turmoil

Tiny Nation, Towering Figure

Realities: 2016

End of an Innings

Trumped

Embarrassment to America

Dishonest Media

Purana Pakistan

Media Unleashed

Mental Walls

Quarantining Qatar

Vizier or Fakir

70 Not Out

70th in Washington

England in September

White Rage

Daughter of the Quaid

Overstay

Fighting for Pakistan

Confronting the Barriers

Battleground Africa

Low Goals

Mental Pollution

Inside Europe

Washington in Disarray

Departures

Freedom’s Burden

Japan Journey

Possessed by Possessions

Fairness, Not Favors

Post-Election Vibes

Once Hate Is Unleashed

Paisa & Politics

South Sudan/South Punjab

Pakistani Progress

At American University

England in October

Out of the Shadows

Miseducation

Addiction to Failure

Adulation & Humiliation

American Vice

Choices

White to Brown

Conversation with a Statesman

Modi Musings

Kiwi Carnage

D-Day ‘75

Hotel Mumbai

Omar & Ali

Game Changer

At the Easternmost

Cultural Self-Awareness

Cricket Fever

Fading Lights

New Wounds, OldMindset

Canterbury in August

Division & Deceit

Yukon Yonder

Role Models in Our Midst

Say Something; Do Something Else

National Outlook

Twin Tasks

Breaking the Bondage

Leaders Who Endure

Darkness Within

Unsung

80 Years After

Art & Heart

Afghan-on-Afghan



2001

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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