Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan • Hacker News Board

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#11

Post by raheemm » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 9:41 AM UTC

I spent a few days in Pakistan last week, specifically in Karachi. I found the people to be very polite, the city vibrant and modern (much more so than I expected), and in spite of their enormous challenges, there are pockets of growth and development (telecom, islamic banking). Like much of South Asia, these developments are in spite of the government.

There also seemed to be an air of optimism about the prospects of Imran Khan becoming the next Prime Minister. I asked my taxi driver what might cause Imran Khan to lose and he mentioned if America does not want him, he wont become PM.

Here is an interview of Imran Khan with Julian Assange - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WacS98ATtIM

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#12

Post by jbm » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 9:53 AM UTC

kamakazizuru wrote: post #3

great read - but in the process of painting a peachy picture for the future, he glosses over a huge core problem that pakistan has. The fact that a significant part of its identity is based on being the anti-india.

You know, I am reading a lot of comments like this lately on HN. It is always about the same group of countries too. Whether it is the "I hate to be a hater.." comment I read last week in the article about some random Arab nation introducing better schools, or this article about Pakistan. You will notice it also in articles about Israel or other "politically charged" areas too. In short, glossing over the entire article, and then dropping in some negative meme about the area in question. Please stop it.

Anti-Other-ism is not a Pakistani-only phenomena, as anyone here can attest to. An example I had was a physics professor in CEGEP who was horrified that I didn't drink. He proceeded to tell me that he "knew all about that Pakistan-India" business - through his Hindu Indian wife. Truth mixed with bigotry was the kindest way to put his newfound opinions. (Even then, it would not be fair to say that /her/ identity was based on being Anti-Pakistan or even a bigot)

Really, the concept of reducing a nation's entire identity to a strong negative emotion is ridiculous. It would be about as fair as saying that the American identity is about being "Anti-Brown" or the Japanese identity is about being "alien from the rest of the world". Nonsense, except for the smallest fraction of crazies that you could find in any sufficiently large population.

I'll take the critical-but-fair opinion of a third party such as Eric Schmidt over a compromised local like MJ Akbar any day.

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#13

Post by kamakazizuru » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:01 AM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #10

kamakazizuru wrote: post #3

great read - but in the process of painting a peachy picture for the future, he glosses over a huge core problem that pakistan has. The fact that a significant part of its identity is based on being the anti-india.

"The fact that a significant part of its identity is based on being the anti-india" Isn't that a relatively common situation for countries - especially those with a historical connection to a much larger neighbour? For example in the UK there is the well known "Anyone but the English" thing where people in Wales/Scotland/Ireland support teams in major sporting events based on this selection criteria. And the "unoffic…

I'm not sure I know enough about Scotland / Wales / England / Ireland to fairly comment here. The key difference as I understand it at least, is that India and Pakistan did not exist as nations - ever - they were both nations created "artificially" out of the greater Indian sub-continent. India walked away with the history of the ancient indian civilization and everything from then on as its own story - Pakistan emerged as "we're not India, we're a muslim nation". I see where you're coming from - but the problems here run significantly deeper than sports rivalries!

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#14

Post by asto » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:07 AM UTC

jbm wrote: post #12

kamakazizuru wrote: post #3

great read - but in the process of painting a peachy picture for the future, he glosses over a huge core problem that pakistan has. The fact that a significant part of its identity is based on being the anti-india.

You know, I am reading a lot of comments like this lately on HN. It is always about the same group of countries too. Whether it is the "I hate to be a hater.." comment I read last week in the article about some random Arab nation introducing better schools, or this article about Pakistan. You will notice it also in articles about Israel or other "politically charged" areas too. In short, glossing over the entire arti…

Pakis have been brainwashed since birth by "education" to hate Indians and Hindus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_textbooks_controversy

Interestingly, here in India too we have had controversies with textbooks. Our current ruling coalition has been accused of pandering to Muslims to tap the votebank!

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#15

Post by arethuza » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:08 AM UTC

kamakazizuru wrote: post #13

arethuza wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The fact that a significant part of its identity is based on being the anti-india" Isn't that a relatively common situation for countries - especially those with a historical connection to a much larger neighbour? For example in the UK there is the well known "Anyone but the English" thing where people in Wales/Scotland/Ireland support teams in major sporting events based on this selection criteria. And the "unoffic…

I'm not sure I know enough about Scotland / Wales / England / Ireland to fairly comment here. The key difference as I understand it at least, is that India and Pakistan did not exist as nations - ever - they were both nations created "artificially" out of the greater Indian sub-continent. India walked away with the history of the ancient indian civilization and everything from then on as its own story - Pakistan emer…

Scotland is currently preparing for a referendum on splitting from the UK (which really means, as far as Scots are concerned, splitting from England).

In what I'm sure is a complete coincidence, the referendum is going to be in the same year as the 700th anniversary of the climactic battle of the Scottish War of Independence at Bannockburn.

The divisions between Scots and English really do go quite deep - at least from the Scottish side, not sure that the average Englishmen cares and if they do it's probably to wish us good riddance.... :-)

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#16

Post by asto » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:21 AM UTC

Eric Shmidt's opinion on this topic has no value. People like him are treated way better than ordinary people in Muslim countries. People like me can be arrested/executed for the silliest of reasons [1][2][3]

I wouldn't ever go to a Muslim country because some rich dude said it's quite alright. What works for them needn't work for me.

[1]http://articles.cnn.com/2012-03-13/asia/world_asia_pakistan-... [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamza_Kashgari [3]http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/iran-must-halt-execution-web-...

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#17

Post by zack12 » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:22 AM UTC

I live in Lahore which is one of the three major cities in Pakistan. Trust me, what he says about electricity is absolutely true. Right now I am sitting which out any electricity. My internet modem is on UPS so that I can have uninterrupted internet. As far as computer is concerned, I have to religiously charge my laptop whenever there is electricity so that I can use the laptop during the load shedding times.. Since its so hot( I am sweating right now no fan, and the temperature is 50 C), my laptop heats up which usually causes my graphics card to burn out. Just bought my third laptop in last 12 months. Desktop computers are out of question.

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#18

Post by davidw » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:29 AM UTC

jbm wrote: post #12

kamakazizuru wrote: post #3

great read - but in the process of painting a peachy picture for the future, he glosses over a huge core problem that pakistan has. The fact that a significant part of its identity is based on being the anti-india.

You know, I am reading a lot of comments like this lately on HN. It is always about the same group of countries too. Whether it is the "I hate to be a hater.." comment I read last week in the article about some random Arab nation introducing better schools, or this article about Pakistan. You will notice it also in articles about Israel or other "politically charged" areas too. In short, glossing over the entire arti…

Or, we could just flag articles like this and leave them to other sites.

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#19

Post by irfan » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:32 AM UTC

asto wrote: post #16

Eric Shmidt's opinion on this topic has no value. People like him are treated way better than ordinary people in Muslim countries. People like me can be arrested/executed for the silliest of reasons [1][2][3] I wouldn't ever go to a Muslim country because some rich dude said it's quite alright. What works for them needn't work for me. [1] http://articles.cnn.com/2012-03-13/asia/world_asia_pakistan-... [2] http://en.w…

That exactly is the image problem Eric is talking about

Re: Eric Schmidt's thoughts about Pakistan

#20

Post by capex » Fri, Jun 22, 2012, 10:39 AM UTC

In terms of startups, Pakistan is being let down by the banking bureaucracy. Paypal doesn't work in Pakistan, and there is no official explanation of why it is so. Lacking a mode of easy/ secure online payments, startups are kind of dead in Pakistan at this time.