美国国家公共电台 NPR 'A Woman Like Her' Looks At Murder Of Pakistan Social Media

'A Woman Like Her' Looks At Murder Of Pakistan Social Media S

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The story of Qandeel Baloch was a harrowing one that gripped her home country of Pakistan. She was a social media star, ambitious, beautiful and daring. Her posts were often sexy - or for many in Pakistan, scandalous. That included her own large family, though they welcomed the money she sent home. Yet all that fame could not protect Qandeel from a tragic¹ end. In 2016, one of her brothers murdered her in what's known as an honor killing². She was just 26. Journalist Sanam Maher is now out with a book on Qandeel's life and death. She joins us from Karachi. Welcome.

SANAM MAHER: Thank you for having me.

MONTAGNE: Tell us more about Qandeel and her social media persona, which could be quite risque in what is a socially conservative country.

MAHER: That's absolutely right. Qandeel was one of the first social media celebrities³ that we had in Pakistan. She became famous for the videos that she would post online to platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And the videos and the photographs, the selfies that she put up, they were a mixed bag - I mean, just sort of ordinary things. She bought a new dress. And she would put it on. And she'd ask, do I look sexy? She would make videos about her thoughts on everything from politicians to movies to her crushes on certain cricketers. So we liked to watch her. We liked to make fun of her. We liked to see how this young woman was just expressing herself. And she became famous for doing pretty much that - like, just entertaining us.

MONTAGNE: Though there were other people - women - online at the time, what was it about Qandeel? What was the thing that pushed her right to the top?

MAHER: We do have a lot more women that we're seeing online now doing the sorts of things that she did. I think that she created a blueprint⁴ for the social media celebrity⁵ over here in Pakistan because at the time that she became famous, we weren't really seeing a lot of people who understood their audience as well as she did. She really understood that, to be a viral star, it really didn't matter what you were putting out or whether people were praising you. It was just important that they were talking about you.

MONTAGNE: Well - and at her peak - and this was in the year she was killed - the BBC profiled her. Let's listen to a clip where she calls herself an open book.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

QANDEEL BALOCH: (Non-English language spoken). Everyone know me. I'm, like - I'm not a fake person. (Non-English language spoken).

MONTAGNE: Yeah. She wasn't a fake person. She revealed everything. How does that feel in Pakistan?

MAHER: So it's interesting, the clip that you just played right now, she'd scripted this very elaborately. And these two young women that I spoke⁶ with, they said, you know, it was the first time that we'd seen a woman on television doing something as simple as just being in a swimming pool, wearing whatever she wanted to with other men there in the pool.

MONTAGNE: So when she went home on what you might call this fateful day, she went back to the village to be with her mother, really. And it was because she had reached kind of a peak controversy⁷ moment. And it involved an altercation⁸ she had with a cleric.

MAHER: A few weeks before she was killed, Qandeel had met up with a cleric who she had been on a TV show with. And when he was visiting Karachi, where Qandeel lived, he said, why don't you come over and meet me? She went over to his hotel. She posted a couple of pictures from their meeting. But afterwards, she tweeted that he had behaved inappropriately with her. She didn't specify⁹ what had happened. And it became a he said, she said moment.

So Qandeel wasn't actually her real name. It was a name she'd made up for herself. And she'd never shared where she came from, any details about her family life. That's what Mufti Qavi, the cleric - that's what his followers¹⁰ started to do. And then they shared her real name. They shared information about where she came from, where her parents lived. And then suddenly, the people in their village who didn't know that this woman was online promising¹¹ strip teases or dressing¹² in certain ways or saying certain things - they found out about it. And they turned on Qandeel's family and her brothers.

MONTAGNE: Her brother - he basically confessed the crime, took full responsibility. And he did so, saying his life was ruined, and his honor was gone. His life was ruined. He would have been able to expect no punishment when he made this confession¹³.

MAHER: Because the way that the legislation worked at the time, his parents could have forgiven him for murdering his sister. And so he would've been able to walk free, which is why he confessed so willingly and so proudly.

MONTAGNE: And - but here is the twist in her story. Of course, she was amazingly famous. So her story is different from all the other hundreds and hundreds of women who've been through this. But her parents turned on her brother and demanded justice for their daughter.

MAHER: They did. And, I mean, that was amazing to see because this is something that you rarely hear about in these cases. But Qandeel's father turned around and said, you know, even if it means that my son has to hang for this, that's exactly what's going to happen. And I want him punished.

MONTAGNE: Given that and all the publicity¹⁴ around her really tragic death, what changed in Pakistan?

MAHER: I think that Qandeel's murder - it's what comes out of a system that has such deep roots. And honor killing takes place not just to punish a person who is believed to have stepped out of line. It also serves as a warning to other people in that community or in that society. So it's almost to say, you know, if you do something similar, this is what could happen to you. And in Pakistan, it's going to take, I think, a long time before we start to dismantle¹⁵ that system. But we're definitely working towards it. And I think, especially, a lot of young women have become a lot more vocal¹⁶ online. It's safest online. They've become better at organizing themselves, speaking up when they feel like something is happening that they don't agree with. But I do think it's going to take time for a system to completely change.

MONTAGNE: Sanam Maher is the author of "A Woman Like Her," the story behind the honor killing of a social media star. Thank you very much for joining us.

MAHER: Thanks so much for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF TEEBS' "SHELLS")

1 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

4 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

5 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

8 altercation   

n.争吵，争论

参考例句：

• Throughout the entire altercation,not one sensible word was uttered.争了半天，没有一句话是切合实际的。
• The boys had an altercation over the umpire's decision.男孩子们对裁判的判决颇有争议。

9 specify   

vt.指定，详细说明

参考例句：

• We should specify a time and a place for the meeting.我们应指定会议的时间和地点。
• Please specify what you will do.请你详述一下你将做什么。

10 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

11 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

12 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

13 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

14 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

15 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

16 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。