What's wrong with Egyptians?

No, not everything. There are lots of wonderful Egyptian individuals, who have many good characteristics and who are able to excel in various fields of life.

There are many efforts done by individuals in an attempt to develop this country too. All the efforts are sporadic and random however, that the net effort amounts to zero. Some think of zero as a good number, a neutral number. But its actually a very degrading number. Try to multiply a number with it, or divide it by another number and you get no where. Try dividing a number by it and its an undefined operation (not a number).

So unfortunately, the good efforts done by so many Egyptians seem to maintain the survival level of this country more than to develop it in any way, and that is the zero number I'm talking about. It looks like we're standing still and surviving, but we aren't. Survival alone without development is a degraded state of being, and that's what we're living.

There are a few great Egyptian individuals whom are well known, but many more aren't. What makes great individuals even greater is being able to achieve what they do in the tough environment they're in, fighting back all the factors that are fighting them, instead of supporting them.

At a younger age, I used to think that one cannot achieve except outside of this country. But small achievements here are worth a great deal. Helping a few helpless help themselves here and being part of the early trivial development activities that could happen here (if ever), could be as worthwhile as getting to the moon and researching rocket science elsewhere, and sometimes its just as hard.

Every moral man and woman in this country that is holding tight to their morals, in this lawless swamp of immorality is making a great achievement.

Humans are the same everywhere. Some of the differences arise from the surrounding culture and from how we're raised. Yet we all have the same traits and chracteristics, needs and desires, just balanced differently. But Egyptians as a group have common factors that can be attributed to us in general, which are a result of the surrounding culture, and the environment we're being raised in.

I claim that what's wrong with Egyptians is not the individual within us. But what's wrong with Egyptians is us, as a group of people. Its how we function together, and how we perceive others. In fact, its how we are not able to function together. The problem is with Egyptians as a society functioning through our culture.

How we are governed by our regime is not an exception. Its from us, onto us --wa min a3malekom ma solleta 3alaykom. If we take snapshots of our society at any level, we'll find that every sample mini-government in our society functions the exact same way. Every power figure acts the same way, and every group of governed people in our society act the same way. We personify leadership (sometimes to an idol status, intentionally or not), blow them up, then suck up to them so we can be closer to them to benefit from their power, and when their time is up, we throw them over to take their place or work through the next powerful figure. And those who don't do that, allow those who do to rule.

For some reasons that anthropologists and sociologists can analyze, cutting corners has become a theme of our culture, where its important to get the job done, but not important how it gets done. Ana wa men ba3dy eltofan (I come first, and the tsunami can destroy the rest), is the definition of being smart in this culture, and if you care and work with others then you are by definition naive and dumb.

Lawlessness is at the core of our problems. What is not an attribute of a culture can become so with the application of suitable laws that are enforced effectively and justly, and which eventually over time become natural laws of the society. I see the West applying more of God's laws than we do here. Not Islam per se, but God's laws in general. They've managed to create man-made laws that in many aspects reflect God's will on Earth, and we haven't been able to do so. Look at some of the basic laws. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt pay your taxes, and others shall benefit from it. Thou shalt not harass women, not even with an offending gaze. Thou are equal infront of God, except through your deeds and actions. Thou shalt respect others' rights, including right of belief and religion. And so on. All these are laws in the West which are applicable there, but not here (either because they're not written, or because they're not applied). So its not really a matter of whether to apply the Islamic Shari'a or not. I think its a matter of working hard and sincerely on having relevant and suitable man-made laws to start with, and if those laws are well-thought of and genuinly for the benefit of the people, then they will resemble God's will on Earth and they will be God's Shari'a. Then, such laws should be justly applied in form and in spirit. If we can't come up with such laws and apply them justly, then we'll never understand God's Shari'a.

All that is not the main problem however. The problem is with our monolithic culture that accepts no criticism and no diversity. We are not allowed to criticise us and our culture. We think one way, and its the right way, and if you deviate from the group thinking, you are un-Egyptian, have ulterior motives, a traitor, or a kafir.

Yet most of those who do deviate, and criticize, do so with such an extreme manner that it just proves how similar they are to the culture that they're criticizing. Well, they're Egyptians. They too are unwilling to see the others' point of view. They too are not willing to be criticized, thinking that they hold the truth. Well, they too are obviously part of this culture that don't accept criticism.

I read some of the Egyptian blogs and opposition papers for example, and see an outlet for criticizm of everything Egyptian, which is wonderful. In blogs specifically, there's criticizm that is hardly acceptable --not by the regime-- but by our culture in general. Yet still, it is criticizm that is too extreme and too rigid most of the time. Criticizm that is not to be criticized. Egyptian style criticizm. We are the kind of culture that want everyone to think the same way, our way.

I see the problem is as much with the Islamic fundamentalist extremists as much as it is with the Secularist extremists for example. Both act the same way, both would govern the same way, both are bred from the same culture obviously.

The way I see it, is that every culture has major flaws. Yet a culture that is not capable of self-criticism in a constructive manner, of embracing all of the diverse thoughts within, and of self-correction, cannot progress. So the problem with us, is not the different flaws we have --which are all treatable, but its that we are not willing to admit that we (as a culture) have flaws and work on them in a constructive manner. We blame everything, especially individuals, but not us as a group.

We're not necessarily doomed however. I've learnt that everytime I make a criticism I should provide atleast one alternative solution (and I didn't learn that in Egypt). So one of the solutions to me does come from changing the top of the pyramid. Although I've argued that our problem is with us as a group of people, yet it is almost impossible for this culture to change itself, to change without leaders.

That's why I question the application of democracy here sometimes. We governing ourselves, through our own self-bloated culture, won't make us work on our problems. The general overwhelming traditions, thoughts, taboos and approach to life will be more general and entrenched even further. I'm only afraid that our cultural traits would eat up the good that might come out from democracy.

What we might need is a group of good leaders that take us through the leap. That work, first and foremost at mending the way we function as a group. But they could turn into a group of good dictators, and there's no such thing as a good dictator. So go figure.


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* I dedicate this post to the wonderful jog that I enjoyed running this morning which motivated me to put my thoughts together for this post. Little things motivate little things.