Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Waiting for Govot

It's time for a balanced view. There are just too many extreme reactions to Algeria's attacks on Egyptians in Sudan. While it's infuriating, the proper reaction isn't to 'hate' the Algerian people for a variety of reasons. First, hate is a very personal emotion and it can't be applied to Algerians as a whole, secondly, it's not helpful at all or can be quantified and most of all, hate is not an action at all, if you hate the Algerians in your heart then you've become nothing but a bitter imbecile who has just waited for an excuse to use that dark emotion having not been able to apply it where it matters.

And no, we don’t want Alaa Mubarak to be president, one phone call cannot erase all that’s gone wrong, that’s an extreme we have to avoid at all costs. We also can’t kick all the Algerians out like we did with foreigners and Jews at the time of Nasser and look what it cost us, we’d be fools to repeat the same mistakes twice. Not that I mind the action much in my fury, but we cannot set such a dangerous precedent and the fury will soon die down and I already know Algerian individuals who have nothing to do with this.

The reaction must be balanced, because Algerians have hurt more of their countrymen celebrating in Algeria than they have to Egyptians in Sudan. What would we do if they'd killed some Egyptians? (Which I'm sure they would have had they lost) What if it were Algerian fans that had done this to Egyptians rather than cowardly criminals? There are many extremes that would warrant an extreme reaction but this is not one of them.

There are mixed opinions about the facts and the evidences. Many people with little understanding of Egyptians and Algerians have thought that we were quick to exonerate Egypt from any mishaps despite its guilt. I and many friends would be the first to condemn Egypt if it made sense from a logical point of view. We condemn Egypt for being incompetent in providing protection to its citizens. Our ambassadors in either Algeria or Sudan are practically useless as an extension to the government that sent them. But we know that our supporters aren't creative enough to make this up nor are they violent enough to truly wish someone dead. And we know that the Algerians have the worst history of violence and lies. All evidences must be examined with care with all the lies around.

On the one hand people are exaggerating about what happened, on the other some don’t believe anything that happened, but not just because it’s an exaggeration means that it’s not a big thing of its own. But even if some people don’t think it’s worth our efforts we'll always have no value if we don't stand up for our rights, and we really have been squandering those for much too long. What happened in Sudan remains unacceptable.

I think that people's emotional and illogical reactions of hate are due to the implicit realization that our government will do nothing. We have become a weak country; weak in its people, with a weak government that's only strong enough to suppress its own. It’s a government strong enough to oppress its people but too weak to stand up for itself. People hate Algeria because they hate their country and with the impossibility of expressing this against their government they have reflected it on the Algerian people. People are mad, but not at Algeria although they may think they are, they're mad at themselves and at their government. They feel betrayed by the symbol they thought would give them victory, strength and pride. They gave their energy, which is not a small feat by any means, to a flag that hurt them in every way; a flag that lost, got them beaten, got them defeated and got them humiliated. They're mad that the government doesn't care. They didn't care when they sent in the Egyptians without adequate protection and they don't care to give value to the Egyptian life and they won't care for any future failures they or their people encounter. The only thing they care about is staying in power and they are a species that fight one another for that power.

Wouldn’t it be great if the government took the proper action? It would really make a difference, but the government has been so inactive for so long that I doubt it can take a creative action even if it wanted to. People are waiting for the government, but in effect it’s like waiting for Godot.

In any case, this is great news for Israel. And no, I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all and don't have to drag Israel into everything. Today we realize that not one Arab country likes us and that we're so apart in reality. We've done everything to provoke them and anger them and they didn't do much to win our favor either. Each disruption with an Arab country pushes us closer into Israel's bosom, for with them comes economic support. Israel actually wants Egypt to be powerful unlike what the conspiracy theorists say, because it would mean that its only ally in the Middle East would be a strong ally.

I'm not inviting people to hate Israelis, for some are people without a choice of where they were born. I'm not inviting hate at all in any case, I'm inviting resentment. I'm inciting everyone to resent the things that should be resented. I'm hoping for a balanced opinion amidst those moderate few. Let not the anger blind you lest you end up where you don't want to be.

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