We and the Hostage Strategy… Spontaneity and Planning
Modernity has diverse and intertwined symptoms that the observer sees and the individual experiences in many areas of life. Modernity, in its social concept, is much broader than the production of knowledge and technological advancement in industry and daily life. Modernity is also a lifestyle in all its aspects, positive and negative… It is the quality of relationships between individuals and the mechanism of mutual relations between the individual and society and vice versa, initially the relationship between the state and the individual, the state and society, and the state's ability to organize this relationship and enforce its rules from top to bottom and bottom to top.
Respecting the private space of the individual by their social environment, composed of individuals, is a fundamental backbone for a sound beginning of social modernity… Narrowing the individual's private space by society or the state is a blatant expression of the absence of modernity… The individual's lack of commitment to the social and ethical values of society and their little respect for the authority of the state and its laws is also a clear sign of the scarcity of modernity in this society.
Thus, we face a simple equation for societies' transition from social barbarism to modernity, an equation based on mutual respect in all directions… respect of the individual for the individual, respect of the individual for society and its pillars, and respect of the state and its constants by society and individuals, and vice versa.
In our Eastern societies, we observe a lack of respect in all fields, which is continuously increasing. Everyone lives their day and reality hostage to the symptoms of lack of respect in its various aspects on their daily reality.
The strategy of taking the other, individuals and groups, hostage is the common strategy… The use of this strategy by individuals usually happens by chance and not by firm convictions or prior planning… The use accumulates over time and often spontaneity takes over its use and it becomes a “natural habit” adopted by all.
Conversely, social and socio-political groups deliberately and knowingly use the hostage strategy for the purposes of use and its impact, usually to tame the surrounding social framework to adopt their agenda, which becomes axiomatic and part of the society's forged civilizational system, even though the overwhelming majority of society detests and rejects it.
The symptoms of the hostage-taking strategy are multiple, dynamic, and continuously renewing… Therefore, in this short article, I suffice to point to some of these symptoms, leaving the reader the possibility to observe their environment and monitor the symptoms of this strategy in their social space:
Islamic movements of various types and branches are the most frequent users of the hostage strategy and unfortunately with remarkable success… They began with clothing, falsely called religious clothing, and imposed it on society, which by its nature does not tend to oppose religion, exploiting this nature to take society hostage to their agenda aimed at undermining patriotism and nationalism and consolidating sectarian affiliation in life fields and manifestations. Now we observe throughout the East a programmed takeover of individuals’ personal space and blatant, deliberate interference by these groups and by some regimes that adopted their strategy in the private affairs of citizens and their individual decisions.
The strategy of taking society and individuals hostage to the Islamization agenda, which largely contradicts the Book of God and its content, did not limit itself to the external appearance of individuals but extended to larger matters, making Friday sermons, Taraweeh prayers, and other rituals broadcast via microphones in mosques a normal matter… All society members, including followers of other sects and those who consider faith a private matter between the Creator and the created, become hostages for hours forced to listen to the nonsense of these people and the broadcast of sectarian poison and blind fanaticism in society… Not to mention the competition in raising voices between mosques in the neighborhood or village and the troublemakers present there. This colonial behavior of the mind and public space was exploited by some to call for banning the call to prayer from mosques, and this demand itself also took society hostage to the agenda of some groups hostile to the civilizational heritage… The call to prayer from mosques and ringing bells in churches are part of our civilizational heritage in the East, which we cherish and take pride in, and have no relation to shouting in Friday sermons which concern only those present in the mosque.
The so-called Islamic movements, falsely named, and the call movements, etc., went to seize the public space by planting signs on streets and public places bearing the nonsense of forged jurisprudence, such as travel prayers and other religious slogans filling the streets and taking everyone hostage.
This deadly disease to social cohesion extended to falsifying customs and traditions that we have proudly cherished for generations, such as respecting the neighbor, respecting the guest, and preserving public space. Individuals began taking other individuals, guests, friends, and locals, hostage to their selfish feelings… of joy, mourning, pain, and illness… For example, you see how people celebrating weddings close public streets and squares for days and nights with loud music, indifferent to the sick, elderly, children, workers, and students among their neighbors who need rest and quiet… We have moved from respecting the neighbor to taking the neighbor hostage to our feelings…
We used to visit the sick to check on their safety, ease their pain and suffering, console them, and try to distract their minds, even briefly, from their pains, illness, and resulting misery… Today, when you visit a sick person, the patient and their family overwhelm you with every detail about the illness, treatment, surgery, medications, doctor's words, and perceptions of the disease, and you remain for an hour or more hostage to their feelings… Instead of consoling and easing their pain, you leave frustrated and fearful…
Today, when you go to console the family of a deceased, you are forced to listen to the nonsense of the troublemaker sheikhs present there, their voices booming through microphones about the torment of the grave and fearing God… They take the family and guests hostage to their barren thoughts and behave as if they are the hosts, forgetting that they are guests and must respect the hosts and themselves as guests… Respect for the guest no longer has a place in the atmosphere of the hostage strategy, which has become part of our daily life in the East… An essential part of falsifying our heritage, customs, and civilizational legacy.
Today, we in the East are far from being who we were and who we wanted to be… We have become ghosts of our past and zombies of our present… We are miserable actors in the play of life, writing its episodes with blind imitation, chasing mirages, and surrendering as powerless hostages!
Wake up, individuals and groups… Get out of this play… Do it; if not out of respect for yourselves and your heritage, then out of respect for the future of your children and your country… Remember, reminders benefit!
