Khadija Mughal
Our generation is being entitled as a soft generation. We are told consistently and frequently that we are quite delicate creatures as compared to our ancestors as they used to be much strong and brave, and they wonder where all their strength has gone during gene transfer. They say things were much difficult during their time and everything required a lot strength and consistency and they did them. In our times, when all the manual work has been replaced by mechanical work which requires very less strength and time and only some basic skills, why can’t we even do that? When there are so many degree holders from well-recognized institutions, where all the knowledge and wisdom has gone? When we have much more supply of food items, why are we always deficient of essential nutrients?When we have this much privileged life where we are much knowledgeable, where we work less and earn more, have so many varieties to eat and have too much stuff to entertain ourselves with, why are we always depressed, uninterested and lost. They wonder, what has happened with us? And we wonder too, what will happen to us?
All these factors mark the status of everyone’slifestyle and a person is treated according to his/her status in society. This has been bestowed by the capitalist society where the worth of a person is decided by his/her living style. Capitalism is a sort of glamorous addiction which tempt everybody by its sophisticated and illuminous aura and when people chase it, they get addicted to it and can’t find any way out.
In old times, there were very less sources of knowledge. The head of the families, through all their life experiences learnt mostly two or three lessons and transferred them to their new generations. Mostly people were not allowed to question the wisdom of their elders andsimply followed them. In today’s learning system anyone who is incapable of questioning is considered as dumb and stupid. From the very start of our journey of learning we are trained from home and relevant institutions to question everything. This is how people of old times were programmed to unquestioned submission and now we are being programmed to doubt everything and question it. Modern sort of programming could help in academic learning, but it wears out the minds of individuals who are indulged in this sort of thought. Although there were less sources of knowledge, but they were authentic, and everyone believedthem. However, now there is an outburst of knowledge but no authentic source and worst of all the knowledge is contradictory which has left the individual of this era confused and lost. Knowledge is although a blessing but also a burden and when a blessing is used to manipulate people it obviously produces desperate and lost beings.
Capitalism has taken control ofall media and in today’s world media is most intimate to everybody. Some years back media was just a source of entertainment but now it has taken control of every domain of life. From entertainment to politics and from education to private lives, nothing could be imagined without the influence of media. Our ancestors were happy in their mud, one compartment houses having no separate rooms, kitchens and even washrooms. They were happy eating a bread with sugar, yoghurt and even water. They were contented with whatever little and basic knowledge they had. They were happy with their tough and long working hours. They were happy with whatever they had and whatever they were. But then gradually capitalism came out and it worked very hard to inculcate in them the idea that they are not enough. They need to achieve more to keep pace with capitalist society. This idea to achieve more and more to be enough has no end. Our knowledge and skills for a position are not enough, our big enough houses are not decorated enough, the enough food supply has not enough nutrients, our looks are not enough.
Capitalist society has dictated the underlying rules for us to be enough. To be knowledgeable enough we must go to certain institutions, to be sophisticated enough we have to go to certain malls, restaurants and parlors as these are the determinants of our status in capitalist society. All these things are being inculcated in us through electronic and social media. Where they produce different trends, and everyone blindly follow them to fit in. Everybody is in this never-ending long run of perfectionism and when they can’t achieve it (which they can never, as perfectionism is just a fictional term which can’t be achieved in real life) they get depressed.
The most damage that the capitalist society along with media has done to this generation is it has shattered their fundamental conceptsof living and have left them in amidst of nowhere because from there they could direct them wherever they want. They have shattered their belief in themselves and have made them to believe in their products more than their selves. We don’t believe in our ability to learn and believe more in private trending academies; we see them as a door of our success. We don’t believe in our skin tone and features and use different harmful cosmetics and surgeries to change them to fit in.
To be very precise I would say has anyone ever thought about how the world powers are working strategically to play with our minds to maximize their earnings. We are being captivated in such a tactful manner where no one could decide for him/herself and everyone blindly follow what they are being dictated in the form of current fashion, trends etc. They have controlled the minds of individuals in a way that they have blurred all the directions and then offer you which way to follow. It is no secret that almost everyone today is suffering from depression and other mental illnesses. Mental illnesses also squeeze out all the physical strength of a patient. That’s how our soft generation came into being.
