The Manic Televangelist
Being introduced to Televangelism through the carefully constructed persona of Joel Osteen, I was compelled to write this post about the most popular ‘Televangelist’ from my own country.
In Pakistan, the character of Aamir Liaquat dominates religious media. His career had a rocky start but eventually rose to immense fame with his show ‘Aalim Online’. Earlier this summer I observed the escalation of his popularity during the month of Ramadan when he hosts special daily ‘religious transmissions’.
From the little snippet I saw of Osteen’s show I noticed how calculated and structured his production is. This is a stark contrast to what you see in Liaquat’s show.
The Ramadan transmission airs live and is filmed with a live studio audience who participate in religious trivia, and not-so-religious games to win prizes that range from mobile phones to motorbikes. The show aired twice a day during the time of sehri and iftari, and my family and I would often gather to observe the regular hooliganism that would erupt during the program.
The month of Ramadan is especially sacred to Muslims and having a show that promotes such conflict over mere prizes just seemed disrespectful to me. I’m not saying that there is no place for fun and games in religion, but the way Liaquat goes about it is in downright bad taste. For example: -One of the games on the show was an argument battle between two women -He once game a baby away as a prize -The ever controversial mango game
I’ll leave you to form your opinion on this, the nation and myself are still boggled by it as you can see from this advertisement released by Nando’s in Pakistan following the event.
Despite his ridiculous antics Aamir Liaquat continues to be followed by thousands, and here is where the importance of a structured performance comes in. In Preaching the Good News Glad, Sintere points out how Osteen tailored his performance after watching tons of his fathers sermons and knowing what goes on in the editing process. Osteen knows what people wants, and gives them exactly that. Similarly, Liaqaut too is a charming, ever smiling character and has also carefully created a show that could not fail. It may seem all over the place, but it is perfect for the reckless Pakistani community as the masses crave mind-numbing entertainment. Throw in the world Islam and some prizes and you’ll see ratings sky rocket.
