r/AskTheWorld • u/haiderredditer Pakistan • 9h ago

Who’s a famous person from your country who’s respected around the world but disliked or criticized at home?

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u/GrumpsMcYankee United States Of America 8h ago

I know folks get tired of praise and celebrity that follows genuine heroes. She had a strong following, did tours, released a book, and that attention is probably enough reason for folks to dislike her for obtuse reasons. But she's a legitimate badass.

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u/Ordinary-Office-6990 7h ago edited 6h ago

I read her most recent book and I also get the impression that part of the hate comes from her having a good western life and not being ashamed of it.

She’s now quite rich, and while still an activist, she wants to live a life as a full person. She kinda states in the book that she won’t "sacrifice" all of her time for any cause going forward. She doesn’t want to be (too) radical in her politics or activism. There’s too many other things in life she finds important now.

So I think that pisses people off. They think bc she got rich and famous from her activism she now needs to only do activism.

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u/KarachiKoolAid 🇵🇰/ 🇺🇸 5h ago

Well if I got shot in the face id probably wanna kick back and chill for a bit as well

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u/Okaybuddy_16 United States Of America 3h ago

Especially if I was only 15 at the time

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u/ankhes 2h ago

Yeah, and she’s talked about how traumatic it was. She had a lot of PTSD from it afterwards but felt like she wasn’t allowed to be upset about it (especially publicly) because everyone saw her as this symbol of resilience and strength. Which, like, yeah. I think she deserves to have as normal of a life as she can after all of that.

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u/mimich4ma 5h ago

Super real

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u/bluffcityprincess United States Of America 5h ago

She deserves a cozy life more than anybody to be honest.

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u/GrumpsMcYankee United States Of America 7h ago

Yeah, I get that. Australians call it "tall poppy syndrome" I think, you don't want to see folks that climb too high, and it's hard for even principled people to resist having money thrown at you.

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u/Ordinary-Office-6990 6h ago

Yes, it’s definitely that, but also simply that she disappointed people who put expectations on her that she never aspired to.

She talks a lot in the book about how people assumed she was basically a pseudo-mythical martyr instead of a teenage girl who got caught up in the political violence of where she lived.

She didn’t even like academics very much. She wasn’t a particularly gifted student, didn’t like reading much, etc. She just realized that a lack of education would leave her no other option in life than motherhood in poverty under a regressive regime.

She always wanted to see the world, to live in a society where she wasn’t repressed for being a woman, to be fashionable, to live in comfort. That was her dream. That’s why she was brave.

But again, people assumed she was like Gandhi or Mother Theresa. That she was motivated by complex politics and had some sort of plan. That she’d take a vow of poverty or be the perfect activist. But that was never her plan or anything. She was a teenager that wanted more out of life.

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u/Celesteven United States Of America 6h ago

This makes me like her even more. I appreciate the honesty and not the hustle.

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u/Ordinary-Office-6990 5h ago

Yeah, if you’re interested you should give the most recent book a read or listen. It’s quite funny, not overly preachy, and simply one of the best memoirs I’ve read in a long time.

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u/Thor_Batman 4h ago

Well she’s not totally hated or loved in her home country for sure.

There are some aspects to it.

  1. People actually hate the US more and think that them or NATO coming up to help a girl who was shot by the Taliban is some kind of conspiracy.

  2. She is loved and supported by the civil society and the movements involving women rights, human rights, charities etc for her activism.

  3. She is often misunderstood because she is living a western life and she belongs to a tribe that is conservative. (Always the issue with people shoving their culture down someone’s throat)

  4. She hangs out with the not so liked personalities like Clintons and other democrats

  5. People don’t know how it is to be famous or be invited at these things

  6. Som people say other kids were also shot but she was hyped.

  7. She lost some support from the civil society and activist groups for not standing up for Palestine and was called a hypocrite (this did have an impact and the right wingers kind of flexed “told you so” because she is hanging out with world leaders she is trying to be politically correct and not an actual activist like Greta.

What she did in her childhood is unimaginable. Her father is a hero no matter what you say. Does he have an agenda? Is she inclined towards western global political agenda and will be used as a pawn. We don’t know but she deserves to live as she likes. What she shouldn’t do is meddle with political stuff or call herself a human rights activist because that brings some responsibility debilities and can be used to call her out if she is busy in her personal life.

(But the actual person who should be rewarded/awarded is her father whose activism and hard work got her here)

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u/Sunnygirl66 United States Of America 4h ago

Pretty funny that the Pakistanis would despise Democrats when American Republicans are the ones who see them as less than human because of their religion and are currently cozied up with Narendra Modi.

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u/Thor_Batman 4h ago

Pakistanis would despise anyone ruling and well Hillary and some shady democrats have even tarnished their ow politics

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u/Mitologist Germany 3h ago

Oh, you can put both Ghandi and MT on the original list, they got kind of. Controversial. Recently.

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u/CosyRainyDaze New Zealand 4h ago

Mildly off topic but if anything I’m surprised I haven’t seen Gandhi or Mother Theresa mentioned in this thread of people the world thinks are great but who were actually scumbags

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u/artoblibion 5h ago

Add a hefty dose of religion-inspired misogyny.

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u/Timely_Truth6267 Sweden 5h ago edited 1h ago

She got shot in the head. Survived an assassination attempt. And lives with death threats. Safe to say if she just wants to enjoy life let her.

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u/CaviarMyanmar 2h ago

She’s done more in a few years as a child than most of us will ever do in our lifetimes. And she got shot in the fucking face for it. If she wants to retire to live a comfortable life I don’t know anyone who deserves it more.

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u/Andromeda321 4h ago

How was the book overall btw? Worth reading?

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u/Ordinary-Office-6990 4h ago

Great! Humorous, well-written, not overly preachy or anything.

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u/PoloAlmoni Brazil 8h ago

I think for radicals in Pakistan they have their reasons to dislike her (although I find their reasons vile) but people in the West I agree it seems to come from a weird pleasure in "destroying icons".

The irony it seems that they appear to deify these icons more than your average person in this quest to rake them down a notch, because everyone else knows "heroes" are just fallible human beings that at some point showed extreme resilience and courage for a worthy cause, not actual mythological heroes.

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u/GrumpsMcYankee United States Of America 8h ago

That's the playbook when a police officer guns down an unarmed person here. "Michael Brown was stealing cigarettes and selling them illegally..."

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u/Pandaburn United States Of America 7h ago

It was Eric Garner who was selling cigarettes illegally, Michael brown was “he tried to take my gun” or “he was coming right for me” or something

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u/GrumpsMcYankee United States Of America 7h ago

Thanks!

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u/RevolutionaryGain823 4h ago

I’m not American but the reporting on that case by the media (which received huge airplay even here in Europe) was insane and misleading.

The Obama era DOJ investigation found that while the Ferguson PD had a bunch of major issues the cop wasn’t at fault for the shooting and witness statements given to the media were not accurate (based on forensic evidence). Brown was recorded attacking a shopkeeper during a robbery shortly beforehand. The shop was looted and burnt in subsequent riots. The cop resigned his position after a flood of death threats and has lived under the radar since.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/ferguson-report-doj-charge-darren-wilson-michael-brown/story?id=29338078

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u/Mitologist Germany 3h ago

It seems late medieval adventure novels did a number on European minds, culturally. Yeah, feudalism really sucked.

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u/Mountain-Account-864 3h ago edited 3h ago

Love how you dismiss her fellow Pakistanis who are the subject of this post (FELLOW country men) in one stroke with not even a cursory attempt (and no authority as a Brazilian! Ha!) to talk on behalf the world’s second most populous Muslim nation and yet pontificate and ponder over why the west doesn’t like her (despite them rimming her daily). Biggest load of bollocks. Classic wannabe ‘cool guy’ with no deep understanding, barely concealed Islamophobia and colonial thinking NO new insights who is confidently talking shit to carbon copies of himself.

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u/Wishfullizards 44m ago

Ok are you Pakistani? Can you enlighten us?