Hamza Ali Abbasi, social activist or moral crusader?

Hamza Ali Abbasi, social activist or moral crusader?

KARACHI: The recent legalisation of gay marriages all across the US has caused quite a stir on social media. Opinions of all kinds are flowing in; some strongly disapproving the notion, others advocating it.

But Pakistani actor/director Hamza Ali Abbasi, known to occasionally give his two-cents, has a very interesting stance on it. The celebrity, in the past, has expressed his opinion on various issues and having a following of about 2.1 million on his official Facebook page, we infer that his word matters. But what we don't understand are the analogies he drew in his latest post.

Firstly, the post that was edited four times within five hours.

Hamza is obviously disappointed at people who are celebrating' a behavior that is, according to him, "taboo even in animals".

But how can he generalise animals on the basis of human psychology? What we mean to say here is that researchers have proved a display of homosexual behavior in about 1,500 species and not just in terms of sexual activity but courtship, affection, pair bonding, and parenting too. Just to make it clear, the animal kingdom practices it with much greater sexual diversity than the scientific community and society at large have previously been willing to accept - including homosexual, bisexual and non-reproductive sex. Categorically, his statement falls in speciesism.

The actor says he isn't hateful towards people who are gay but at the same time is against the idea of justifying "homosexuality under the banner of universal love".

According to his Facebook post, the legalisation of gay marriages is an attempt to "make normal and natural what is abnormal and un-natural".

The original post was then edited to add that "Gay marriage does not mean human equality'. Stop mutilating the concepts of human equality and justice."

Though Hamza did not explain his concept of human equality and justice, any lay person with even some very basic common sense would know that equality is about having the freedom to go about one's own choices without being considered an outcast. On the contatry, Hamza mutilated the concept of human equality and justice with his strong biases in his own post.

The post was again edited to add another line: "Tolerance means tolerating something...not celebrating it."

The definition of tolerance and celebration remain very subjective. Tolerance means tolerating with or without necessarily having to accept something and celebrating shows certain acceptance. He is right considering the denotations of the two words but why dictate people what to tolerate and what to celebrate, for that too is very subjective.

The post was re-re-re-edited to add that Hamza's heart sank at the innocent question of his nephew inquiring about the meaning of gay.

Let us just hope that we all have the intellectual neutrality to explain things to the younger generation without strongly attaching our opinions that may, in some way, divert their course of thought. Let us let them learn things and decide what's right or not. Let us treat their intellect with equality and give them freedom to make their own choices in making a distinction between right and wrong.

The post was edited again to add that legalisation of gay marriages equate to legalising and celebrating incest.

We'll just wait for the post to be edited again for the umpteenth time to see if Hamza explains the correlation between incest and homosexuality or we shall leave it to your better judgment.

Tribune is making fun of Hamza it seems. They put up another article as well:


http://tribune.com.pk/story/911732/hamza-ali-abbasi-turns-social-media-into-a-debate-room/

I get what Hamza is trying to say. I'm not in favor of homosexuality or gay marriage for that matter myself...but that's me. What gets to me is how Hamza feels so strongly about a decision that was made in the USA. Sure, have a stance like you always do...but he feels so strongly about this that he keeps editing the same posts over and over again as tribune mentioned also. lol I sometimes seriously wonder if Hamza does all of this to stay in the news.

He doesn't work as much as an actor...but, this allows him to be talked about. He always has something to say and a lot of times, it creates controversies...makes you wonder.

I honestly dislike the hypocrisy in his posts but he has a right to express his opinion. I don't understand why people are reporting him & posting on his page. What happened to freedom of speech?

come to think of it. What he is saying makes sense in the meaning he is saying it. celebration is not about coming out of closet or being gay. i see his point of him accepting gays but not celebrating... ok.. each is own...

the celebration is for the rights which is making it legal for gay couple to be married in an eye of a law. which makes the issue of wealth management , property, healthcare, childcare for gay couples legal . If the marriage is not legal then every thing else which is surrounding it is not legal which makes life difficult.

Originally posted by: -Kashmiri-

I honestly dislike the hypocrisy in his posts but he has a right to express his opinion. I don't understand why people are reporting him & posting on his page. What happened to freedom of speech?

I'm sure Hamza can deal with that. This isn't the first time and won't be the last. He has had his facebook page deleted in the past for something he said, and he made sure everyone knew about the issue through facebook when his page came back up. He made it an example. 😆

I feel the way Hamza expresses his opinion is what's controversial. As I said, I actually do understand his point of view..and agree with it personally..but, as a celebrity he could have said all of this in a better manner..to avoid drama...but he doesn't. He never backs down and keeps going...and he isn't naive to know that nine out of ten times, people will come at you on the internet for being strongly opinionated.

I also understand his point of view and somewhat agree to it as well although that analogy of animals was pretty ignorant of him.
I do think that Tribune's idea of making fun of HAA is similar to someone making fun of homosexuals that is if you believe in homosexuality and you are being made fun of is same as if you do not believe in homosexuality and being made fun of. How many times a person edits one's post has got nothing to do with the content of his post. At least HAA did not criticize anyone in particular but just the general idea or practice.

Originally posted by: 0o.Jaan-Jee.o0

I also understand his point of view and somewhat agree to it as well although that analogy of animals was pretty ignorant of him.
I do think that Tribune's idea of making fun of HAA is similar to someone making fun of homosexuals that is if you believe in homosexuality and you are being made fun of is same as if you do not believe in homosexuality and being made fun of. How many times a person edits one's post has got nothing to do with the content of his post. At least HAA did not criticize anyone in particular but just the general idea or practice.

Yup, they're making fun of him. They're already allowing the reader to not side with Hamza by mocking him. To be fair, that's poor jounalism from Tribune's end.

I personally do find the editing of his posts funny because he keeps going on and on. It's not really worth explaining yourself in different ways on the internet on such a sensitive topic. It's only dragging the issue..and now people are reporting his page..and, he's making headlines. As I said earlier, I sometimes do wonder if Hamza goes on and on deliberately. It definitely keeps him in the news. He has nothing else to talk about as far as his work is concerned.

He is a grade A hypocrite.

One thing though - I think we are at a point where people can't express how they feel about homosexuality so openly because if you say anything on the lines of NOT favoring it, then you're automatically looked down upon,, called a homophobic, a hater, etc etc. And, I think that's not fair personally. If Hamza is against the concept of homosexuality..then it's as much of a perspective as favoring the concept is. He shouldn't receive hate for having this view...and he shouldn't be called names etc either. Tolerance should be there on both ends.