The rising medium of podcast on social media has reinvigorated ideological debates and dialogue in the country. The popularity of podcast is a good omen as it will drive people towards reading.
Podcaster Ahmed Fozan shared these views while conversing with hosts Najam Soharwardi and Ebad Ahmed at Off The School’s YouTube channel. He said podcasts are playing a vital role in bridging the gap between intellectuals and general public. As people have been getting the opportunity to listen to views of scholars and avid readers on podcasts, it develops general interest in reading books.
The debate turned interesting when a disagreement arose between Fozan Sahab and the hosts on the question whether the medium of podcast was further strengthening radicalisation in society.
Najam Sahab and Ebad Sahab seemed of the opinion that the airing of debates on social media had little helped in de-radicalising society as people representing various sects and sides had formed their own fan following on social media and their fans would only listen to them and avoid listening to people with different views, creating a sort of tribalism.
However, Fozan Sahab said podcasts and debates on social media had been slowly addressing the issue of radicalisation as people were getting the opportunity to listen to the other side and understand their perspective.
Explaining his point, Fozan Sahab said even those associated with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan have toned down their style and become less aggressive while presenting their stance.
He also praised Engineer Ali Mirza for rebutting what he said inappropriate things that had become a part of religious discourse.
Fozan Sahab claimed that Engineer Ali Mirza had brought religious discourse to masses. “I have seen children of Barelvi school listening to Engineer Mirza,” he said.
This again triggered disagreement as both the hosts accused Engineer Mirza of helping perpetuate aggressive style and impertinent language among the younger generations.
Fozan Sahab also underscored the need for having a balanced approach while doing podcasts. He admitted that he believed in a certain ideology but said that his views must not stop him from conversing with people who have different ideas. He also criticised some of his audience for overreacting when they find him talking to people belonging to different schools of thought.
He said people would even not refrain from levelling false allegations against people they disliked. He explained that when he invited actor Hamza Ali Abbasi to his podcast, some people started calling names even without bothering to listen to what Abbasi had said.
Fozan sahab said many critics of the actor thought he was not genuinely religious; however, upon meeting Abbasi, he found him to be a very sincere person. He added that he had done over 100 podcasts and Abbasi had been his only guest so far who asked to have a break during the podcast because he had to offer prayers.
The conversation also highlighted how different social media forums like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. were different and one needed to put tailored content on each of them to satisfy the tastes of people using them. Fozan Sahab quipped that Off The School uses its Instagram as if it was LinkedIn because it posts serious content there whereas Instagram is the place where people want casual discussions.
About TikTok, Fozan Sahab said it has totally changed the media landscape of the country allowing uneducated content consumers to become content creators. He lamented that due to the demographics of its creators and audience, TikTok resulted in the propagation of the most vulgar sides of our culture.
“The promotion of rap and gangster culture on TikTok has been attacking the very foundations of our society,” Fozan said. He, however, added that the change of policy by the new TikTok management in recent years had improved the content quality on the platform.
He also spoke on how the enormous popularity of TikTok resulted in other social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube introducing brief video forms such as reels and shorts.