"The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well." -John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Putting an end to animal fighting

Dogs aren't the only animals who suffer in fighting rings; this inhumane "entertainment" also affects roosters used for cockfighting and many other animals. Recently, a video of a fight between two dogs and a bear surfaced on the Internet. The video would run chills down the spine of any humane person. It shows the height of cruelty of us humans. Animal fighting is one of the most heinous forms of animal cruelty. Animals used for fighting don't do this naturally. Such animals are typically raised in isolation, so they spend most of their lives on short, heavy chains. They are regularly conditioned for fighting through the use of drugs, including anabolic steroids to enhance muscle mass and encourage aggressiveness. Animal fighting victims may have their ears cropped and tails docked close to their bodies to minimise the animal’s normal body language cues and to limit areas that another animal can grab during a fight. Fighters usually perform this cropping/docking themselves using crude and inhumane techniques. For animal lovers, it is difficult to understand why someone would deliberately cause an animal to engage in vicious fights, inflicting and receiving grievous injuries and often death. Yet, despite the cruelty involved and the fact that animal fighting is illegal, the practice is a serious and continuing problem all over the world. In rural Pakistan, large crowds of men who smile, encourage and place bets, as their animals tear themselves apart, gather to watch the battle. It should be noted that animal fighting is not only a problem of cruelty to animals but is also part of a criminal subculture that can involve gang activity, illegal gambling, drug use, and drug dealing, and it contributes to the destruction of neighbourhoods. This evil practice must be put to an end. Police, animal advocates, and other community members must increase their efforts to investigate and prosecute animal fighting, with the eventual goal of eradicating it.

Hoor Hayat,
Karachi.

Moral policing in the name of ethics

It is an unfortunate testament of the times that despite all the modernisation and awareness, our educational institutions are still plaguing with the evil of moral policing. Recently, Hazara University issues a new dress code stating that female students won’t be allowed to wear tight jeans, and too much makeup. Even our schools are still practicing moral policing in the name of ethics. Girls as young as eight to 10 years old are being taught that their clothes define their character. At that age, young children look up to authority figures with a lot of respect. If your educators are teaching you to correlate modesty with the type of clothes you wear or how much makeup you put on, young minds at an impressionable age are being conditioned to believe that. In times like today where child sexual abuse is rampant, if some untoward incident happens to that young girl, she will be internalised to believe it was her fault. Along with physical pain, the emotional trauma of victim-blaming and social stigmatisation will ruin her life. Six to seven year-old girls are being told to put their legs together and sit “like a lady”. Instead, they should be given gender sensitisation classes and be educated about ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’. Everyone in our society spends all their resources, time and efforts to teach girls not to be assaulted rather than teach boys to not assault women. It’s such an irony. Gender-based moral policing, especially in educational institutions, may appear to be normalised as casual social stereotypes but they have far-reaching and horrific consequences. It is often overlooked as a part of the autonomous rule code of the institution. But when such a practice affects people at large in far-reaching negative consequences, it’s high time it should be addressed. No young girl deserves to be told that her clothes define her character.

Ramsha Nawab,
Lahore.