The people have demanded blood, and our entertainers have been all too eager to deliver. Like pagan worshippers, the children of war lined the streets in jubilation as two of the greatest monsters in our tiny little nation’s history were hung by the neck, left to choke on the very air that had kept them alive throughout their sordid, pitiful lives. Lives which saw them commit one war crime after another … like addicts who just can’t seem to keep their noses clean. Justice had been served, but, as the old cliche goes, at what cost?
Pardon me, a bit of the old ultra-violence always brings out the tired old poet in me, I promise not to be as trite throughout the rest of this thing.
So yeah, two more war criminals were executed quite recently, “only blood can redeem blood” and all that jazz. And as much as myself and my ilk would bemoan the prevalence of capital punishment still being a thing in any part of the world, I personally am not so naive as to think that the status quo may change if enough navel-gazing commentary were made protesting the savagery of “people getting killed by other people.”
It’s a new, more civilsed world after all, and it is therefore natural that some might raise a brow or two at the decidedly un-new and un-civil prospect of an entire country getting behind what basically equates to state-mandated murder. And that’s exactly what happened. With each passing execution, criticism starts to pour in from every which way -- the US, the EU, the UN, many other such intimidating-sounding abbreviations, and of course that bastion of terrorism, the very arbiters of injustice and all things naughty … Pakistan.
And exactly how did our nation respond to these reactions? Basically saying, “screw you guys, I’m going home … ” That’s right, Bangladesh is now officially Eric Cartman from the television show South Park.
But wait! Upon sitting down to actually write this, I felt that the comparisons ended right there, with us throwing around a “whateva, I do what I want” here and a “respect my authoritah!” there, like the spoiled child Eric is, but I ended up drawing an even more troubling thread: We’re not just Eric Cartman, we are post-season five Eric Cartman!
For the uninitiated, the fifth season is where Cartman essentially crosses the massive yard that separates a rambunctious little rascal from a true monster that would go to any lengths to settle a score. To be reminded of one of television’s most infamous characters in witnessing how our nation is reacting for being called out for the war crime trials, is never a good sign.
We’ve already accomplished more than a country of our diminutive stature would ever have been capable of accomplishing -- we won our war for independence against the Pakistani occupation forces of yore as a ragtag group of guerilla warriors, we’ve proven wrong doubts about Bangladesh ever surviving as a sovereign state, we’ve overcome crippling economic catastrophes into becoming the relatively well-off nation that we are right now. Why hold a decades-old grudge? Apropos of our hot streak of successes, to believe that total nation-wide regression is the only logical phase for us next, wouldn’t be too unrealistic a notion.
Fact-facing time: Bangladesh isn’t some juggernaut superpower that can afford to pick fights with other nations.
A trade sanction on shrimp won’t rob the world off of shellfish-ey delights, there are other (arguably more capable) producers of ready-made garments within spitting distance of our own country, and cheap labour comes out of the global woodwork.
When you factor in the obscene amount of financial aid that we still rely on to run barely as half a nation, how are we in any position of advantage here again? Exactly where is this belligerence coming from?
“Count your losses and move on” was the advice Kyle Broflovski gave to Cartman, and that’s exactly what Bangladesh needs to do now: Move on. The amount of energy and emotion being spent by both the current government and the “righteous” citizens could very well be channeled into something more constructive.
Literally, even concentrating on something as banal as improving urban sanitation or making way for dedicated lanes for buses on our roads would be more in line with the spirit of liberation than collecting old debts, at this point.
