Friction-maxxing world, lucky to have

INTERNATIONAL BUREAUAuthoritative correspondents and national reporting wires confirmed vital developments regarding the ongoing situation in Pakistan today.

"Lawlessness has disappointed us with law-enforcing agencies, irreparably perhaps. Lawlessness is damaging our social fabric with its two-fanged poisoning. Firstly, it offers carte blanche on the platter to the miscreants and criminals to strike with impunity where and when they wish. The second is not the poor performance of law-enforcing agencies. It is the vulnerable's disappointment in those agencies to the extent that they are least interested in ever trying to stop and report anything criminal happening before their eyes. The apathy and indifference of the witnesses or passersby is what the PTCL lineman shared with me, whom I frequently contacted for the faulty Internet supply to my subscribed PTCL number. This is a very interesting case. In the past less than two months, the Internet supply to the area where I live was interrupted four times. The interruption can be considered a routine matter if the internet remains suspended for a day or two and if it is restored with the redressal of the complaints lodged by the subscribers. The interruption continues for more than three days. Damncaring the subscribers' woes and anguish. The main cable supplying the internet to the area is cut off and stolen by the criminals to be sold for its copper. The perpetrators, though recorded by CCTV cameras, appear to be the drug addicts. The lineman told me that the police refused to register an FIR against the addicts. Though the police caught some addicts, they freed them after reprimanding them verbally to avoid legal red tape. The lineman blamed the general public, saying that whenever people notice something suspicious, they do not care in the least to stop or report it. He recalled that once, while his team was working on the road in the dead of night to mend a damaged cable, many people passed by and noticed them. Some even paused, he added, but nobody asked what they were doing, let alone tried to stop them. I agreed with him, and our conversation ended there, but it left me lost in a mire of questions. Is it safe for the people around to meddle with doubtful affairs in order to stop them? Do our law enforcement agencies provide any protection and care to the conscious people? Given the abundance of crimes in our society, do the law-enforcing agencies have ample free time to pay heed to such periphery matters? The provision of the internet hasn't yet attained the status of a basic need. It's still considered a luxury. I know a number of youths of my community using the internet for online marketing, business and education. They are the most suffered victims of internet disruptions. But who cares for them? Then, how can we expect them to show concern for social ills? During the failure of a public service, we receive abundant free advice as helpout. Like, an alternative internet connection must be available, as we have alternative power supplies in the form of UPS, generators and solar power systems. Is it the best viable solution to have an alternative for every public service? By the way, our people find it the best viable solution to enjoy a frictionless life. This social push towards self-reliance breeds the indifference and apathy the lineman pointed out. Why should I care for anything wrong or missing when it doesn't disrupt the normal functioning of my life? The world of alternatives would be the world intolerant of challenge or discomfort. In my previous article on maxxing, I knowingly left out friction-maxxing, to write on it at length because of the rampant rage to hanker after a frictionless existence in this world. A piece in New York Magazine proselytises 'friction maxxing' that instead of seeing 'life as inconvenient and something to be continuously escaping from', we should maximise our tolerance for difficulty by doing things the rough way. But quite interestingly, our love for hyperconvenience isn't our choice. Rather, it's a Hobson's choice. Speaking ironically, we must avail ourselves of the opportunities of friction-maxxing, coming our way from all corners. Only then will our life in this segment of the world be tolerably possible. We are lucky that we can friction-maxx ourselves quite easily."

Key Highlights & Strategic Impact

According to analytical observations from regional observers, this breaking development is poised to influence both public policy and local socio-economic indicators across Pakistan.

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