[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_code]PGRpdiBpZD0iODQ2ODE5MzI3Ij4KICAgIDxzY3JpcHQgdHlwZT0idGV4dC9qYXZhc2NyaXB0Ij4KICAgICAgICB0cnkgewogICAgICAgICAgICB3aW5kb3cuX21OSGFuZGxlLnF1ZXVlLnB1c2goZnVuY3Rpb24gKCkgewogICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgd2luZG93Ll9tTkRldGFpbHMubG9hZFRhZygiODQ2ODE5MzI3IiwgIjcyOHg5MCIsICI4NDY4MTkzMjciKTsKICAgICAgICAgICAgfSk7CiAgICAgICAgfQogICAgICAgIGNhdGNoIChlcnJvcikge30KICAgIDwvc2NyaXB0Pgo8L2Rpdj4=[/fusion_code][fusion_text] Introduction What is being liberal? If you just do a cursory survey of how liberals or liberalism is seen by conservatives in the United States and in Pakistan, a few things stand out in these misrepresentations of liberals and liberalism. According to pretty much all conservative pundits, twitter stars, and even scholars, liberalism is seen as a weak, misguided, and often ineffectual human enterprise and if you go by American conservative media, most liberals are also considered "unpatriotic," "weak," and, it is also asserted, that liberals may also have a "herd mentality." Overall, generally speaking liberalism and liberals are also often seen or represented as naive, unfocused, pretentious, and too far removed from exigencies of everyday life. What is Being Liberal? To me, being liberal requires a strong and stable individual identity. Thus, it can be stated as a fact that anyone inhabiting a liberal position will be tolerant of differences, will tend to be more egalitarian, less sexist, and is also most likely to care about the collective good of humans as well as the planet. It is no surprise, then, that most liberals, in one way or the other, fight for human rights, equality, even distribution of global resources, and also understand and confront racism, sexism, and all the other practices that might posit one group of humans as inferior to others. Conversely, Conservatism, in my opinion, is either spawned by a precarious individual identity or a deep fear of the new and unknown. I make this claim not only on my gut feeling but because of a thorough understanding of research, both psychological and scientific, on the theories of selfhood. Identity and Being Liberal According to Mark Bracher , who relies on scientific research of consciousness and human mind, most of the times we are being intolerant of the others or afraid of differences, it is because our own sense of self is either constricted or precarious and fragile. In order for one to really accept differences and respect all those who are different from us, one must first develop a stable and solid self, as our prejudices are mostly accentuated by a weak sense of self. Thus, to be liberal already presupposes that we have an enhanced and augmented sense of self, a self stable and secure enough to encounter difference without going in to a defensive mode. Overall, then, while liberalism and a liberal self identity merges out of a more balanced identity, conservatism, especially prejudicial conservatism, arises out of an insecure self. Keep in mind also that we are often given a faulty representation of a secure identity: in the media we often are led to believe that people who speak plainly, loudly, and aggressively are, somehow, tougher than soft-spoken liberals. But deep down the Alex Jones'es and Trunp's of the world, as research in psychology suggests, are deeply insecure people who must impugh their own insecurities onto others to stabilize their own identities. So, in the end those capable of holding non binary view of reality and those capable of respecting our individual and collective differences, the liberals, actually have more stable and well developed identities. Podcast on the same Topic [audio mp3="http://postcolonial.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/On-Being-Liberal.mp3"][/audio] Video on Being Liberal [/fusion_text][fusion_code]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[/fusion_code][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Videos Archives - Postcolonial Space

Q: War Memories. 1. For Those Who Saved my Life

Audio Clip [audio mp3="http://postcolonial.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/War-Memories.-1.-To-Those-who-saved-my-Life.mp3"][/audio] Those interested in watching this on Youtube:

The Power and Price of Dissent

The Power and Price of Dissent Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or an entity. The term's antonyms include agreement, consensus and [...]

By Masood Raja|2019-12-06T11:08:49-06:00December 6th, 2019|Commentaries, Videos|0 Comments

Video and Audio Introduction to my Book on ISIS

Description from Amazon Relying on a thorough understanding of the role of ideology, discourse, and framing, this volume discusses ISIS as an Islamist ideological organization, and examines its philosophical scaffolding [...]

By Masood Raja|2019-11-12T12:50:38-06:00November 12th, 2019|Podcasts, Postcolonial Books, Reviews, Videos|0 Comments

Freire: The Banking System of Education

This is a brief lecture explaining Paulo Freire's discussion of the Banking Concept of Education. As one of the world's foremost theorist of education, Freire in his book, "Pedagogy of [...]

By Masood Raja|2019-11-05T10:32:03-06:00November 5th, 2019|Critical Pedagogy, Education, Podcasts, Videos|0 Comments

What is Postmodern Literature

Mostly derived from Linda Hutcheon's book A Poetics of Postmodernism, this lecture explains some of the important aspects of postmodernism and postmodern literature. Audio Lecture:

By Masood Raja|2019-10-30T11:51:36-05:00October 30th, 2019|Podcasts, Videos|0 Comments

On Being Liberal

Introduction What is being liberal? If you just do a cursory survey of how liberals or liberalism is seen by conservatives in the United States and in Pakistan, a [...]

By Masood Raja|2019-10-28T11:29:36-05:00October 23rd, 2019|Commentaries, Podcasts, Videos|0 Comments

War Memories. 1. For Those Who Saved my Life

Audio Clip Those interested in watching this on Youtube:

By Masood Raja|2019-10-22T14:30:21-05:00October 22nd, 2019|Podcasts, Videos|0 Comments

How to Ask a Professor to be your Fulbright Mentor?

This brief video, prompted by my interactions with Pakistani scholars, offers a few practical insights about the process of contacting US professors to become your Fulbright research mentors. https://youtu.be/ORzFUUrYJ6Q

By Masood Raja|2019-10-05T10:06:35-05:00October 5th, 2019|Education, Videos|0 Comments

Brief Introduction to Zygmunt Bauman’s Globalization

This is my brief introduction to some of the main ideas discussed by Zygmunt Bauman in his book Globalization: The Human Consequences.

By Masood Raja|2019-09-27T22:43:50-05:00September 27th, 2019|Education, Postcolonial Books, Postcolonial Theory, Videos|0 Comments

What is Postcolonialism?

Please also read my article on this subject: What is Postcolonial Studies?

By Masood Raja|2019-09-30T11:38:24-05:00September 24th, 2019|Education, Postcolonial Scholar's Corner, Videos|0 Comments