The war on Gaza resumed killing more civilians and I hope many intellectuals had the chance to watch and read and realize the amount of damage and bullying the Israel did and still doing with the full support of the US not just to Palestine, but to the whole humanity. I’m not exaggerating here. What happened has put to the surface the hypocrisy and corruption of values we have in our country and in western countries overall. It is getting us back to the thoughts that those in power can bully and get what they want and don’t dare to challenge them.
Is this sustainable? Do we feel comfortable using weapons to emphasize hate between nations instead of diplomacy? Is the settlers colonialism still running in the blood of those who believe they are more supreme that other humans?
Something is wrong and needs to be fixed. It does not help that everyone stick to their desk and tasks and feel better about their careers while millions of people are not able to find clean water, being bombarded by bullies or being surrounded by people in denial.
At the end of the day I see this as a deep and big war between politicians who run high level national/international decisions vs intellectuals who have smart critical minds and immune to propaganda.
You can rely on intellectuals to use their analytical tools outside work to participate in a meaningful impact.
You can rely on intellectuals to have the courage of speaking up and raising awareness to those who are less immune to propaganda and those in denial; the majority of populations.
Intellectuals are physicians, scientists, engineers, lawyers, political scientists … etc
Politicians are supposed to be intellectuals, some of them are. However, the corruption and lobbying we have turns most politicians into focusing on actions that helps them get re-elected, regardless of the long term goals. As an example, you may have heard Obama couple of weeks ago talking about the rights of Palestinians to have their independent country. However, you question why he did nothing on that when he was in power. Many similar examples.
The irrational support that US provides to Israel no matter how much bullying it does should trigger intellectuals to think more: what else does not make sense? Where does our tax money go? Why in Silicon Valley we have terrible roads and pavements although we pay the most amount of taxes to the federal government? Why the public education is bad? Why housing is not affordable here for most people?
After asking those questions (or many more) just take one problem and use your skills to dig and analyze, then raise awareness – expose lies and promote truth.
We have enough intellectuals to defeat propaganda. Where are just lazy or careless although deep in our minds we know that if we took no action we will be deceiving and dishonest to the rising generations. Being active on the other hand leaves a legacy and impact the lasts even after we get buried.
Be an activist today. You won’t regret. On the contrary it helps you know and lobby with more intellectuals who decided to take their skills to the next level and see the world for what it really is. The bigger picture as we like to call it.
Intellectuals in politics play roles like no others. Just Google “intellectuals in politics” and enjoy thought provoking history and papers. I will add more in future posts.
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Khaled Alashmouny 