Pakistan and its complicated relationship with reverse psychology
More than two dozen people perished on the Karachi beach this Eid. Many underestimated the strength of the waters before them. Only a few thought the waves to be dangerous. What’s unique in this story is the fact that people weren’t ignorant to the dangers before them. They were warned, repeatedly, that the crashing waves could swallow them whole. While many were quick to blame the authorities present as the main culprits, there was another silent evil that no one bothered to address: reverse psychology.
You see reverse psychology has a large role to play in how things pan out in an average Pakistani’s life. If you tell them not to feed the ducks, you can bet your hat that it’s precisely what they will be doing. When you tell them not to spit their paan filled saliva onto a wall, lo and behold, that’s exactly where you’ll find their sepia coloured artwork. If you tell them not to throw trash at a certain place, you can rest assured that the very spot will become a mini landfill in its own right. You tell a Pakistani not to do something, and they will turn around to show you how it’s done, and then they will further demonstrate how to fail while doing it all.
If you tell them not to throw trash at a certain place, you can rest assured that the very spot will become a mini landfill in its own right. You tell a Pakistani not to do something, and they will turn around to show you how it’s done, and then they will further demonstrate how to fail while doing it all.
Which is why it is only fitting and expected that droves of people, who were clearly told not to venture out into the Karachi seaside waters, did the only thing that was left for them to do: wade out as far as possible. It isn’t a joke for more than two dozen people to die. While many are left wondering what could’ve been done to prevent the great tragedy, a lot many aren’t factoring in the fault of the psychology that was at play. What on earth were the authorities thinking when they told people to stay out of the water?
The lifeguards have since then gone on record time and again and cried out the same old kind of excuses, “But we told them explicitly not to go into the water. We told them it was dangerous. We firmly said no.” While this approach may work in other countries, in Pakistan telling people not to do something will result in the exact opposite. So when people were told that their plans to frolic about in the water were going to have to wait, they responded appropriately by showing the lifeguards who was boss by promptly ending their short stint on the planet.
Be it the grand scheme of things or all those small details that we’re so fond of discussing, we are people that revolt against all that they’re told not to do. It would be a lie if one said that Pakistanis are their own worst enemies because surely, the enemy is reverse psychology.
What the authorities should have done instead is tell people that it’s good for health and in fact it would be an act of peace for people to go take a swim. The beach wouldn’t have cleared out faster with that kind of an announcement ringing in their ears. Tell a Pakistani to love his neighbour and you’ll find the neighbour dead the next day. Tell them not to steal and you’ll find even the shirt on your back stolen. Tell them not to hate and that is precisely what they will do. Reverse psychology works so very well in this country it’s astonishing that it hasn’t been used as an effective strategy to fix the country’s problems.
From playing soccer in parks with “don’t step on the grass” decorated across the railings to especially feeding stale popcorn to animals in zoos whose cages hold notices with a simple request: “don’t feed the monkeys”, we are a nation that does exactly what we’re told not to do. Be it the grand scheme of things or all those small details that we’re so fond of discussing, we are people that revolt against all that they’re told not to do. It would be a lie if one said that Pakistanis are their own worst enemies because surely, the enemy is reverse psychology.
So the next time people want to sit around and discuss the people that succumbed to the sea on Eid this year, I hope they’re also clear about the fact that they succumbed more so to the reverse psychology that was at play.
*Spitting here is forbidden.
The author is scared of swimming and takes out her anger and disappointment by reading theories on psychology, which in turn do nothing to help. To further discuss your mental health problems, email at: [email protected]
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