I was arguing with a professor once about stereotypes and how they affect us in both direct and indirect ways on discerning levels. After being viewed as a brown Muslim female from Pakistan, I have had my fair share of instances where apparently wise people ended up asking me questions that deserved exasperated sighs and, sometimes, a good punch or two. e.g. “Do you guys in Pakistan kill every girl who wants to study?” and recently “Does everyone wear those black face net things? I heard you can get shot if you don’t.”
Stereotypes are scientifically termed as empirical generalizations based on a particular group of people. Sociologists use these prototypes and descriptions to study rules, exceptions, traits, mores among other commonalities. The average individual with average intellect (and in most cases, reluctance to pick up a book and learn better about something) uses them to encapsulate massive demographic in one ignorant little bubble.
Enough of the sociological jargon. Behold! The stereotypical fundamentalist Pakistani!
Dental cavities stand no chance before him and his tube of halal toothpaste:
Coco Pops and wheat oatmeal, you have been warned. This man will munch your breakfast into oblivion:
Raised with institutionalized hatred against algebra and geometry, this fanatic will do everything in his power to wipe their inky existence away:
His younger sister, another fundamentalist, grew up to become a suicidal quadricyclist.
His favorite TV channel is Geo.
After a long day of waging jihad against stupidity and ignorance, the Average Pakistani Muslim Fanatic has one message for you all:
Mehreen Kasana 
HAHA Amazing. I would love to see a Stereotype Doodle & how he spents his stereotypical day.
Yaar, mujhe samjh nahi ayi.
Agreed, absolutely hilarious. The average Pakistani person who I come across here in the UK for some reason hold the flag of Kashmir when its Eid and when I ask them where do you come from – they reply Pakistan – I find the nearest wall and start smashing my head.
Eid is a Islamic event (if I’m not mistaken) and what does this have to do with Kashmir – Kashmir and Pakistan are two different geographic locations. I give up…
LOL
haha… awesome :)
Wait, so you Pakistanis also manage to find time aside from your Jihadi pursuits to indulge in satire?
@amreekandesi……..aah so you did find your prozac!
Nice post! Love the waging war on germs part.
woW perfect definition of ‘Average Pakistani Muslim Fanatic’. You became a master of doodler
Why there no vaheyat, fuhush Star Plus?
:P
It’s not halal, you devil.
Kyun? Doesnt the average stereotypical Muslim perform Haram acts in a day? :P
Do not disagree with the article….
but I must say… we as pakis muslim also stereotype other cultures/nationalities/religions etc…… I guess its in human nature to stereo type… we are on the receiving end these days so we feel a lil more than others….
Hey.
1st timer here.
this article is awesome!
some respect here and yeah screw people who do generalizations.
Evil Muslim Cat. Killer.
Stereotyping or labelling is one of the social problem that exists in all society regardless of literacy rate. Normally people with bad manners or little information does that …… regardless of my skin color, broken English and strong Pakistan accent other then in jokes I never got any of that punch from normal people. This note looks little exaggeration with my personal experience in western countries
I lived in UK all my life and this is EXACTLY what happens to me. And I’m not even Muslim, I’m an agnostic but people still view my skin as an excuse to stereotype me. So she’s right about the doodles :x
Superbly awesome!
Hey Mehreen ! This article is wonderful … It’s brilliant <3
I just love ur brain and awesome ideas :)
brilliant !!!
Good job. Shared on my Facebook, hope you don’t mind. Might get some traffic, if any of my Facebook friends read. Probably 3 out of the 225. The rest are bedazzled by Rebecca Black currently.
Haram.
very aa’la !
I feel its sorta overstretched … maybe has to do with some lack of reading or highly emotional state of mind.
I would suggest a more thorough though process and connection with reality. Just don’t limit your writing to drawings all the time. And as much as it interest you read some more about international history, politics and religion it will help polish your writings. Drawings you are already pretty good with and I bad enough to even suggest something.
overstretched? humor is supposed to be exaggerative for the chuckles, dude. and i don’t think you’re in the right here when you say she needs to read up because more than half of her posts tell that she knows more than her peers.
you’re wise beyond your years, kasana! and your humor won an oscar today :D atta girl!
lol nice one Mehreen
In doodle number 4 Muslim sister has boobs…please dupatta her up asap. There is considerable namehram traffic heading up this way to phoondi our good sister.
Doesn’t look ms paint doodles..which software did u use…
Of course, a muslim can never be a terrorist or fanatic. And no, i am not stereotyping myself to break the stereotypes against muslims. Your blogpost is probably inspired by Afridi’s latest assault on sense in which he said “Aik musalaman ka jo dil ha wo kise ka nahi ho sakta”. Muslims are indeed awesome in our land of denialistan. It’s the world with the problem of stereotypes, what an evil world.
Clearing this out once and for all:
This was not inspired by Afridi’s acidic statement. I, in all honesty, don’t even know what the guy said since I’m not a follower of cricket politics. All I heard was that he offended a big lot of Hindus with his bigoted comment(s).
My doodles/drawings come from daily experiences or simple memories. I don’t entertain sports-related issues much.
firstly great post. people like you can change the world.
secondly, afridi comments didn’t affect only hindus but muslims too – india is full of everybody. thus his stupid comments did bother indians, but u know what we had to much to celebrate so we didn’t heal too much attention.
who cares anyways, afridi is a very average cricketer and a big loudmouth.
peace!
Haha, you didn’t even spare the poor cat. Loved all the pictures you added with the text. But this took the cake imo: He sleeps with his extremist cat ever so extremistically =P
It’s very easy to get people categorised and divide them coz v all r sccumbed to wear our egos tight.No religion is bad if it’s true,those who try to spit on moon get their face have it back.Blame game and squirting mud on each-other is an old Nasty game.We in today’s world want to live together and let other’s live so….Pls I’d request U don’t try to fire-up ‘hatred’ it only destroys never get at any ‘positivity’ Politicians through out the world playing this game…and v know of that….try to comprehend and glue-up ur differences…V are nothing But human-being.
Good stuff Mehreen. But then I think Pakistan, in GOOD FAITH, needs to also ostracize those who feed the image. THAT won’t be easy but then then community in general have an uphill task. I read this Sam Harris article ( http://goo.gl/Df1i9) and I must say it’s NOT pretty.
As an Indian I too faced by challenges when I travel (so, do you take an elephant to work every day??) abroad but I’ve learned to shrug it off. Sometimes.
Sincerely,
Shiva
http://www.shivashetty.com
Wow.
Someone should first question Miss Mehreen Kasana when was the last time she went to America? She has not been in America since she was a little child. While she attends school in Lahore, her real home town is in Sargodha. So how will she know the stereotype in America? Which makes this article completely rubbish and founded on a bias made up in Miss Kasana’s head as she commutes back and forth from Lahore to Sargodha on the Niazi bus.
Of course you would know where I’ve been all these years since you’ve kept supernatural tabs on my passport. I’m sure you even know where I am right now as I comment. You must even have knowledge of the midnight snack I’m consuming presently. Good on you, sage.
You see, taking facts stated clearly on a blog doesn’t make you smart in any way. It only proves you’re as ignorant as the one standing next you. In addition to that you’re not exactly a real “Americano” (judging the fact that you might know where this title originates from) because your pretentiousness is located somewhere in cold, sad Mississauga. Also someone needs to tell you that humor shouldn’t be taken literally because once you start whining about social satire, you’re gonna ache all over your body, kiddo.
Come up with something sharp, positive even if it is aimed as critique and I’ll take it. Come up with something unnecessarily patronizing and negatively assumptive, and I won’t.
where the f*ck do these people come from anyway? :-/
moderate them if they get nasty for no reason. :x
Baita, we get this crap directed at us over the internet. Same as your crap.
Don’t feed the troll~ Moderation FTMFW.
I <3 it! You need to draw more so that people can laugh. Our country needs it. And ignore ulloo ke pathays! :P
The shweetnesh of your post gets battered reaaching this far down the comments section. But I enjoyed the new style of doodles, with the brown paper coloured background.
But this is an important point: Geo is ofthe devil and is Allah’s Azaab on querolous Pakistanis for having too many opinions and directing them at anyone and everyone. Now all those opinions are combined into one Orange & Blue logoed package and directed at every Pakistani individually. No need to abuse us over the internet, we have Jang group for that :-D
Best line:
“I’m tired of fitting your stereotypical description of me. Allah hafiz”
Loved it!!!
Brilliant as usual. not to mention hilarious.
i just hope the smile on my face after reading or gong through this post isnt HARAM :)
Mehreen,
It never ceases to amaze me that you have such a deliciously sharp wit at such a young age. Thank you for giving me my favorite new phrase of the year so far. ‘Allah damn’ is genius! And don’t hate on Mississauga! It’s really not that sad. Maybe just a wee bit depressing.
I wish I could say that this is only abroad. But as a woman who chose to don the hijab some 2 decades ago, I have faced stereo-typing day in day out. Fortunately, it has gotten better. My blog I wrote last year was about this experience. http://blog.dawn.com/2010/03/22/confessions-of-a-hijabi/
Brilliant job Mehreen.
awesomeness @ hatred against algebra and geometry :D aah how we curse n plan evil things against em all day at school
Even the nicest of people say, *In a Southern Drawl* “Oh darlin, we are glad you are in USA and out of Pakistan.”
Pakistan may not be a heaven to live in but is certainly not a place where girls get shot everyday or where every single woman walks around in black veils covering their faces nor do they get beaten by men everyday. This is so ignorant.
Great mareenu my child!! BRILLIANT AS ALWAYS!! :) I want to kiss your brain!! keep soaring! LOVE
I know exactly what you mean. A few months ago, my friends and I were talking about marriage. I was telling them that while I have no plans of having my life destroyed by allowing a man into it, if I were to tie the dreaded knot, it would be an arranged marriage. One of my friends, of the American persuasion, asked me who my husband to be was. I just gave her a confused look..”huh?” Turns out they think that “arranged marriage” means that my parents have had my beau picked out for me since I was a baby -.-
That *is* the orthodox Hindu tradition. Just saying…
sure, yeah. but not the Muslim one.
Brilliant!
Kya baat hai. I want me a ‘Square Root 2’ teeshirt now. Allahu Akbar!
hey Sabbah Haji….go back to pakistan!
Hilarious! Linking you on my blogroll!
Great satire! good drawings. I really liked the extremist cat)
All the best!
Hahahah Love it! Stereotypes are best taken with a pinch (read: and/or bucket) of salt and better left in the hands of comedians!
Nice and funny and equally entertaining comments.
Well I still get amazing questions like “do you guys watch movies” or better “do you guys have burgers over there” by (selective few) Americans of this era and be it San Francisco or LA or Texas and yadi ya ya , they usually end up asking me amazing stuff …. They are quick to outsource and make use of our resources; but are arrogant with their attitude …
Btw these are just few and even we stereotype them when we hint that all of them are like this … the educated ones are…. well educated …
one of the best satire “spot on !!” and “in-your-face!!” pieces i have read in a long time … kudos to you mehreen :) you voiced the thoughts of millions of people out there .. thanks ! and thumbs up :)
keep writing and smiling and spreading smiles :)
Hometown is Sargodha? uff. Commuting by Niazi bus weekends, hai hai. ab tera viya kaisey hoga beta, Real Amreekano ko thoda tau lihaz karna chahiye tha?!! Err when you were a little girl in amreeka neela passport ya hara card tau bana liya tha na? *Edits Shadi Online profile*
Simply LOL
well instead of tooth paste won’t a average Pakistani Muslim fanatic use “miswak”.. don’t you know toothpaste is haram and most of them are created at Lever Brothers’ companies , who give money to jews (Israel) to buy weapons to kill muslim brothers…
LOLLLL. loved this.
“Look Ammi! No hands!”
hilarity.
The post was hilarious. Good start to the day. Although I think the stereotyping is not confined to muslims even though we get to face it most days so we are probably more charged about it. It is universal for all humanity. People stereotype others. Be it of any race or religion. It is equally annoying for the stereotyped person everywhere as to how poorly the others are conceiving him/her/them.
This is brilliant. Really. You have such a great way with words and ideas. While these are very funny cartoons and quotes, the best part of this is how it reveals the truth about the stereotypes in the world right now. It is true that everyone stereotypes and that all groups receive it but it is clear that that is not what you are addressing here. The current trend toward anti Islam in the world at large is disturbing for many reasons, but perhaps greatest among them is the infringement on civil rights that is happening as a result. Your words and satire have great power, Mehreen. In order for a thing to be changed, it must first be recognized. Well done! Makes me proud to know you!
Not stereotyping is difficult.
How do you refrain from stereotyping when implementing the Quranic obligation of not making friends with non-Muslims ? Of not trusting “them” ? “They” the kufar?
I find being an honest Muslim and not stereotyping very difficult.
Okay!
Quran also states not to refer/call non-muslims by “kufar”. How about that?
If you dont befriend them, how will you correct their “misassumptions”? :/
Quran says to use your brains.
I love the subtlety of this post. To my mind the ending seems to suggest that some of these stereotypes might not entirely be fallacies. It seems to hit both sides. ‘Look ammi, no hands’. Hahahahaha. And ‘Allah Damn’ Hahahahha
You come up with amazing ways to present some real serious matters in the most light way i’ve ever seen………bless you
I love this post as well as your blog. Keep it up! :)
Man, this just made my day! (And many days for many other people, I’m sure.) Love, love.
Hey awesome article. I was thinking of doing a post as well about what some of my gora co-workers have asked in the past. lol.
P.s. The evil muslim cat was a killer. lol
Are you actually defending geo, though?
And you’re doodles have upgraded into nice, sketchy drawings. Good job.
Devoured the satire :)
Awesome post!
Jazaak-Allah Khair!!! What a wonderful post MashaAllah MashaAllah :D
Allah subhaana wa’taala aap ko nazar-e-bad se aur fahaash raai (effed up comments) deney walon se bachaaey, AAMEEN SUMM’ AAMEENN!!!
Wa aakhir ud da’waana……..
puts the “ha” in jihad!
Hard to not laugh at this stuff! :D
WE are Muslims.
four words: YOU ARE JUST AWESOME!!! great stuff…
pakistanis r great people but our rulers are stupid. the politicians and generals should realize it. the world has realized it. i want to share with you a poem i got in my email.
The Kakul Syndrome –
(for the silent revolution in Pakistan)
By Habib Sulemani
God Almighty! Generals fake
They’ve put country at stake
Generals mean personal gain
The armed forces’re in pain!
Generals’re bloody fool
Take a bath an’ be cool!
Military men’re public servants
Not masters from the heavens!
But they’re arrogant an’ cruel
Don’t care for common people
Generals’re bloody fool
Take a bath an’ be cool!
You own huge firms an’ agriland
Turning country into terrorland!
No-one among you bothers at all
Where the terrified people stand!
Suffering from the Kakul Syndrome
You’re always out—even if at home
By providing terrorists sanctuary
You’ve failed to protect country
Still you behave like intellectuals
Not men behind petty squabbles!
You’ve lost every single battle
Yet foolishly believe: you rattle!
Generals’re bloody fool
Take a bath an’ be cool!
After failure on geographical borders
You champion ideological frontiers
It’s easy to fight on ambiguous front
Cos you like a lavish bedroom stint!
Using a pawn religious leader
Or an ISI-paid TV anchor
You can make storm in teacup
Change system—down to up!
The generals’ve taken refuge
In ideological war an’ abuse!
Don’t try to fool world anymore!
Don’t you see outside an uproar?
Generals’re bloody fool
Take a bath an’ be cool!
See the writing on the wall
Only you’re sick not we all
The military is vanguard
Of a scary fanatic world!
The nation wants to know your aim
You’ve multiplied the double game!
You’re soldiers or businessmen?
Playing tricks on the politician!
You didn’t defend country borders
With broken oath, you’re traitors!
There is no escape from the law
Dug earth with your filthy paw!
You can’t deceive the tax payers
God has heard people’s prayers!
You’ve lied to the nation
Not once, again an’ again
You’ve neither mind nor a soul
An’ you’re always playing foul!
Generals’re bloody fool
Take a bath an’ be cool!
It’s time to take a dose of wisdom!
Stop violation of our basic freedom
Respect democracy at home
Or face the doom an’ gloom!
—
Completely and totally hilarious!!!!
I see u straightened your hair, pretty gal.. =)
I don’t get all the rude comments. I thought this post was supposed to be a refreshing read. :/
Anyways, I liked the cartoon. It was really funny! :D But I thought extremists don’t cuss. :P
Loved the cartoons and laughed my head off! Great job Mehreen :D
Aur likho na.
Amazing post! I love the doodles.
You make me laugh my ass off, seriously. :D
You’re one the best bloggers I have discovered so far, Mehreen.
You’re really too kind, Maryam. Thank you.
Where are you Kasana? :( I miss ur blogging, also done with archives =P and they proved to be even more gut-mice breeding appetizers, wth! :(
I’ll be back soon. SOON. Soon is a nice word.
Hahah i just discovered this Blog. I love it. I am happy to see fellow Pakistani-American’s take on these situations.
Btw, nice comics!
This is good. People that are complaining that this is not realistic are obviously missing the point of satire, but I think this could be a lot funnier if the stereotype (angry Muslim wanting to kill and destroy everything) was not so generic and had a little more content.
Dear Miss Mehreen
I really like your writings. I have a collaboration offer for you. I could not find your email, so can you kindly reply on the email I am going to submit below.
Haha. Awesome post. Really woman, commendable narration.
First time on your blog and loved your writing!
Kudos!
ARE YOU ALIVE? WHY ARE YOU NOT POSTING MORE STUFF? O.o
I’m alive. I’ll be posting soon. Promise.
Hello. i’d like to congratulate on Mehreen on her awesomeness. Almost as awesome as this 100th comment on this post.
I love this post so hard right now. And I am not even a muslim.
Harharhar. I wished people out there educate themselves that ultimately there are more Pakistanis living in Pakistan than extremists.
..~ am a Muslim and proud ^_^ ..~
& this is not a real life for a Muslim man
this post is just nonsense .. =)
I like how you can’t read sarcasm all over the post.
I love your blog! I just read it all the way through- it’s brilliant and so funny. I’m also an American Pakistani girl, and I could relate to everything you’ve blogged. I especially liked your Barbie entry- keep it up!