Skepticism or Realism, the outcome is the same.

By: Ahmed M. EL NAHAS – Montopoli December 31^st 2011.

Albert Einstein once said: “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character”. How very true.. Just think about it objectively.. Throughout the past sixty years, we were being systematically educated at home, in schools (public or private), in universities, in mosques and by the media; in a way to obliterate our creativity, discourage our curiosity and alienate our hunger for understanding.

Whether aware of doing so or not those “institutions” altogether, driven by an unvaried strategic policy of all the  consecutive governments over six cruel decades, conspired together and made it their main objective to render us more ignorant, more submissive and most obedient to hierarchical orders. They spared no effort to flatten our characters by casting them, as one uniform pattern of behaviour, into different moulds to be baked over the slow heat of intimidation, inside the airtight furnace of the single thought and the unique idea. Thus turning us tasteless just like the folkloric cookies baked for the “Baïram” feast, widely different in endless colourful shapes but sadly identical in taste.

They even stole our dreams.. That is how we became vulnerable to all the variants of that fierce invasion of cultural superficialities as “Consumerism” of whatever products regardless of their necessity or level of importance for survival (just look at our behaviour in shopping malls and supermarkets), together with “Imitation” of imported characteristics without questioning their compliance to our traditions which we ironically almost completely forgotten and abandoned.

Both such aspects of superficiality marked the wide-spread contamination by “Corruption”, a phenomena which triggered our indifference to the fundamental traditional ideas of major empowerment as “Labour”, “Production” and “Quality” deriving from high values as “Right”, “Beauty” and “Justice”. And when history kept shaking us to wake-up and ‘react’, we discovered that we can only ‘act’ like caged parrots waiting for the “keeper” to feed them and clean their cage; and even if left to fly away freely, they are not mentally or physically equipped to survive on their own. Cruel and even sad comparison.. Though true.

Parallel and added to that type of “education”, we could ascertain that the constant practice of  “State Terrorism”, by using the robotic iron fist of the security forces and their sub-agencies with all the innovative package of demonic techniques, succeeded in transforming us into millions of isolated islands drifting in a wide ocean of fear and doubt. In such a way we developed that “weak attitude” which devolved into “weak character”, chronically infected by that paramount pathology: “Paranoia”.

We became afraid of the “other”, afraid to express freely any opinion, afraid to participate in meaningful initiatives (except soccer games cheering, or dancing in discotheques, or just simply jamming in the streets doing nothing but watching ourselves doing nothing…), afraid to demand a right or defend it (remember the face of that poor mother begging Mubarak back in 2006 to order the transfer of her son from an upper Egypt prison to a near Cairo one? She was not asking for justice, knowing that her son was arrested without a warrant and without a charge and even worse without a trial!! That mother agreed to tyranny, she submitted to intimidation, she accepted injustice.. She was asking to be able to visit her son once a month near home because she couldn’t afford the pain and cost of the monthly trip!!), afraid to confront, afraid to argue and even afraid to manifest our profound sense of fear.

Perhaps that is why our “Revolution” is so confused and undecided, even divided into fractions and fractal movements in conflict among each other over trivialities and for no valid reason; unable to find a single square meter as common grounds to dig in and defy whatever, or whomever, stands in the way of their hopes for reforms to build up a healthy society in a free democracy. Because they, much as we, were not “educated” to weigh options, analyse alternatives, compromise to practical feasible solutions, make a decision and abide by it.

Revolution requires “Unity, Equality and Equity” in order to reach a success, but the absence of the elementary basics of debate and communication has lead to such a disastrous chaotic situation, whereby economic and industrial interests would easily suffocate and manipulate the disoriented and fragmented mass of confused youth.

Even the 21^st century’s state of the art information technology was of very little help to our euphoric youth. They can search the web for answers, and they may find what seem to be valid answers to their demands; but lacking a solid base of history’s general knowledge and authentic native traditions, would eventually shift them into wrong choices for wrong decisions.. Since these were emotional choices not rational ones.

I fear that it may take, in the best case scenario, a generation to understand and educate the right teachings for a better socio-political know-how in order to be able to make reliable choices. Pending the rest of the world remains static and petrified awaiting our recovery. Until then will we continue being these separated islands casted adrift among the swelled waves of uncertainty?

Once again Einstein proved to have had a point when saying: “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them in the first place”.

I heartily wish you a brand NEW YEAR of certainty and achievement.

Pass On The Word.