What the world is reading

She writes that firstly,it is not certain who owns the company,and the ban was put into effect without much deliberation. But more importantly,

DAWN-Of ban and boycotts

In her opinion piece,Hajrah Mumtaz writes about how most people in Pakistan have begun to argue that the countrys problem is not the uneducated,but in fact its educated: those who ought to know better,and to the countrys detriment,operate under the belief that they do. Mumtaz takes up the issue of how,recently,a group of lawyers called for a ban on Shezan juices at the canteen of the district and sessions court. This,on the ground that the company was owned by members of the Ahmadi community. She writes that firstly,it is not certain who owns the company,and the ban was put into effect without much deliberation. But more importantly,

shouldnt lawyers,of all people,be aware of the fact that everyone in Pakistan has the constitutional right to carry out a business free from racial,religious or ethnic bias? This,then,is the face of the Pakistan of tomorrow: the educated arguing for discrimination,lawlessness and regression. There is every reason for the masses,over whose fates they preside,to despair.

Guernica

Oscars that wont be

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No one expects the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be brave in its award nomination, writes Katie Ryder. She takes up the issue of two films,Melancholia and Martha Marcy May Marlene,and why these two will lose out when the world is bringing out their rose-coloured 3D glasses four years into recession. But feeling better is not the equivalent of shutting down,sometimes it takes waking up, she writes. Ryder writes about two scenes from each film,both very different,but how they both make one define an honest life. Through reviewing both films,and concluding that they are both strong,fresh and provoke strong introspection,Ryder ultimately laments at how they are not Oscar materials,as it is the injection-ready movie-magicnostaligia,schmaltz,pomp and simplicity a la finthat will bring home the Academy Award.

HUFFINGTON POST

Tiger mum,eagle dad

Sometimes a viral video lives up to its nameviral,as in virus,as in something that can make you physically ill, begins Marlo Thomas. She is referring to footage she saw of a four-year-old Chinese boy running through the snow in his underpants,shivering and crying as his parents laughingly shot a video. His father had apparently devised this exercise to toughen up his son. Thomas writes about this new wave of Tiger Moms and Eagle Dadswhose theory is that this kind of parenting will make their children stronger and ultimately more successful. As far as I’m concerned,the only thing it will do is ensure a boon for psychiatrists 20 years from now, Thomas writes.

The Guardian

Books and the Net

In this post,Damien Walter takes up the issue much debated among avid readers: How the advent of technology has brought the digital world closer to everything one does. Books are no different. Instead of taking the usual stand of how this will be the death of the book,Walter writes that the problem is,the distinction many of us draw between a book and a webpage is one of quality and hence of value. But,his moot point takes the win: Books are something we pay for. Webpages are things we read for free. Which model will win out? However,he writes,this is not a thing to be resented,because it is this blurring of lines between the combined technologies of the internet that are making all human knowledge accessible to all people free. Think Wikipedia,he writes.