Once upon a time, there was a large herd of sheep. Not all of the sheep in the herd were the same, some came from different areas or regions and had different norms, but the sheep had been put in this specific herd and at the end of the day they were all sheep. Now, at the time that the herd was created, there were a lot of wolves that liked to come from the East and harass and hurt the sheep. The wolves were very different from the sheep and did not like them at all. Luckily for the sheep though, they had strong and fearless shepherds, who would watch over and protect the sheep from the wolves. In exchange for protecting the sheep and deterring the wolves, the shepherds required that the sheep listen to them and follow their orders. In the beginning, the sheep were fine with this, they were scared of the wolves and the shepherds were the only way to ensure safety.

Eventually though, the wolves became occupied with domestic problems and stopped attacking the sheep. There was finally peace for the herd of sheep; this was great and now the sheep did not need the shepherds anymore. The shepherds, however, did not want to lose the enormous amount of power they had gained; they wanted to stay in charge. The shepherds became power hungry and corrupt. They knew that since the sheep no longer need them, if they didn’t play their cards right, they would lose all of their power. So, the shepherds began controlling the sheep more intensely and forcibly, creating harsh and unjust laws. Life for the sheep was very unfair and cruel. Any attempt for the sheep to promote their own leader and govern themselves was squashed by the shepherds. The shepherds always claimed that the sheep needed them, at some point this was true, but now, it was the shepherds who needed the sheep. The sheep have the power to install their own partly free democratic government that is relatively better than that of the rule of the shepherds. All it takes is unity and cooperation from the sheep and the shepherds will have no option but to give into the demands of the sheep.

 

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Aaron Metz

 

The news article I am choosing for this assignment is on Imran Khan and The PTI’s recent protests. The article came out less than a week ago and stated that the PTI, an opposition political party in Pakistan, has started a “fill the jails” protest. To do this, PTI members are gathering in Lahore and giving themselves up for arrest. For context Lahore has areas where authorities have put bans of public gatherings larger than 4 people. Imran Khan states that they are doing this to challenge the state and to secure true freedom. Khan and his followers claim that their motives are the drastic economic decreases recently and unfair treatment of citizens through unbailable cases, faulty police reports, and attacks on journalists and people on social media.  One thing that the article states that makes me cautious is that Imran Khan has been pushing for an earlier upcoming election after being kicked out of office due to a vote of no confidence. This makes me think that Khan is just using this as an angle to get back in power. However, the movement does seem to have just reasons; they are opposing the corrupt nature of the current regime and they mention how there have been unfair treatment of journalists and citizens on social media, which we have talked about in class. I am curious to see how this plays out and to see if the movement gains any ground. It would also be interesting to find out how social media is being used to promote the movement.

Imran Khan’s party launches ‘fill the jails’ protest in Pakistan | Imran Khan News | Al Jazeera

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Aaron Metz