Decency remains one of the most prevalent, yet least understood, terms in today’s political discourse. One of the pledges Joe Biden has made after taking over the presidency is to restore the culture of decency and dignity, which American politics seemed to have lost under Trump.

Biden’s call for invoking decency in the socio-political sphere of the United States, serves as a wake-up call for us Pakistanis to cast a critical look at the level of decency observed in our politics.

The language used by the likes of Mushahidullah Khan, Talal Chaudhary, Abid Sher Ali and Daniyal Aziz is a clear indication of how low we as a nation have stooped. Vituperative remarks of JUI’s Hafiz Hamdullah for Imran Khan’s wife were particularly upsetting.

Sheikh Rashid’s puns directed at Bilawal Bhutto cannot be condoned either. PTI trolls pass vulgar remarks about Maryam Nawaz on social media are lamentable. Our politicians must be cognizant of the fact that, in evoking respect, kindness, courage, integrity, reason and tolerance, it has long expressed an unquestioned duty and belief in promoting and protecting the dignity of all people.

Today, this unquestioned belief is in crisis. Our current deficit of decency can be traced to the rise of a structural partisanship that began from 1985 when a new breed of politicians assumed the centre stage in Pakistan. In recent times, decency has been shunned by our political leaders as something preposterous primarily because of the stronghold of a personality cult being the principal determinant of our politics. Such ridicule is hurled at the personalities because our politics revolve around personal charisma and not ideals.

The role of sloganeering in attracting the attention of the populace contributes to indecent expressions and allusions. In this context, even a leader of the stature of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto went on to deride Asghar Khan by calling him Aloo Khan and mocking at Mumtaz Daultana by giving him the epithet of chuha (mouse). When it comes to pinpointing the start of the trend, we must go back to pre-partition days of Majlis-i-Ahrar’s politics; personal attacks on its political adversaries and taking a dig at young students from Aligarh University who came to campaign for Muslim League.

Now let’s shift our focus to the conceptual genealogy of decency. Decency, the moral concept, is drawn from the Latin decentia, meaning “being fitting,” a definition that presupposes that there is a widely shared set of values against which we can judge the fittingness of certain behaviours. Put another way, decency has to be sufficiently prevalent for us to notice when things — or political leaders — are indecent, for such conduct stands out.

We live in a country riven by sectarian-tribal partisan disputes; by chasms of race, gender, and identity; and by starkly different views of the nobility and efficacy of the democratic experiment in Pakistan. Faith in the future is ebbing, and the vision of our founder — that we could be guided by invisible but tangible values of mutual respect, universal dignity and a sense of generosity — is more ideal than real.

Vituperative remarks of JUI’s Hafiz Hamdullah for Imran Khan’s wife were particularly upsetting. Sheikh Rashid’s puns directed at Bilawal Bhutto cannot be condoned either. PTI trolls’ vulgar remarks about Maryam Nawaz on social media are lamentable.

How did we get here? And how do we get back to a national ethos in which such sentiments are more ambient than aspirational? The answers to these questions are rooted, I believe, in a renewed appreciation of history and of human nature. We live in a fallen, frail, and fallible world. Our imperfections of character (selfishness, greed, ambition) are in constant conflict with our better impulses (kindness, sacrifice, love), and this tension in our individual lives finds expression in our political life, which is, after all, the public manifestation of our private temperaments.

Success is the name of the game, and decency is worthwhile if it offers a more promising path to achieving it. This is the argument the UK-based American writer, David Bodanis, presents in his new book, The Art of Fairness: The Power of Decency in a World Turned Mean. He wonders: “Can you succeed without being a terrible person?”His answer, clearly, is yes, and he substantiates his argument with several case studies of projects that were successful because of a culture of fairness. “The path to greatness does not require tyrannical egos or crushing others.”

Pakistani leaders must tread that path. They have to lead by example by thinking, acting and making decisions for the people they are supposed to represent in fair, principled and decent manner. To do that, they must follow ideals and not the persons. Only then can they have the requisite level of sensitivity for the public. They ought to adhere to decency that, indeed, is the trait of the gentlemen. Before concluding the column I feel like sharing a note from my diary that pertains to the connection between decency and a gentleman.

The 19th-century English clergyman, John Henry Newman, left us a revealing definition of a gentleman that, when broadened to include all people, offers a useful guide to decent conduct. “The true gentleman,” Newman wrote, “carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast — all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make everyone at his ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd… He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out.”

I hope I am not asking for the impossible. We can do anything howsoever challenging it may be, if we set our mind to it. Expecting our politicians to be decent and cultured is not something extraordinary. It is a very natural aspiration.

The writer is Professor in the faculty of Liberal Arts at the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore