As we’re all made aware, serious political upheaval has shot across the Arab world in recent weeks. Largely fueled by similar factors across nations (long-standing autocracies, large proportion of unemployed youth, corruption and Facebook), these revolutions are disrupting the lives of millions in a way that is unprecedented in this millennium. Although there is no wall to tear down this time, it appears as if democracy shall come to several countries that have been under the specter of violence and oppression for generations.
I think it’s important that we take a step back from the 24-hour news stream and look at this as people who may not be all that affected if Muammar Qaddafi is still alive-and-kicking in Tripoli at the end of the week. How should we as people so removed from a situation act or think? It is hard to contemplate the lives of millions when you’ve never met one of them nor been to the places they call home.
Too easily we can think about this in what I call the disparagingly and disgustingly “objective” sense. We think, like Neanderthals, “Democracy good. Dictators bad.
People replacing dictators with democracy: Good!” Or we can think like xenophobes: “We’re a democracy. They’re becoming a democracy. They must be better off for it, and pretty smart too (because they’re becoming more like us).” This kind of analysis totally ignores the critical importance of these particular people and these particular places choosing now to revolt against their government. I’m not saying democracy isn’t good; I’m saying thinking that these revolts are good because of democracy’s triumph is flawed.
Maybe we can find a way to think about change without marginalizing the context of it. Then, of course, we’d have to care a little about it, so if you don’t particularly care what happens to the people over there on a level deeper than “Good for them,” I don’t see why we need to keep talking about it. In fact, if you don’t particularly care about what’s going on, please when you’re done with the paper, write to the people at CNN and Fox News (or whatever source of media that barrages news at you) and say: “I don’t care. Please stop.” Frankly, in that situation we don’t care about what’s going on or the people involved. Let’s just have the three-sentence brief that says who won, how many died and whether our gas prices will be affected.
Is there a practical element in all this talk about uprisings in the Middle East?
Certainly; for one, I’m for the public acknowledgement that serious change can still be affected in far less free nations than the one we live in. These events should shock Americans because people with a strong call to action still managed to uproot the government when those people had more restricted freedoms of speech and press than we do, not to mention the wealth disparities and access to education. Whatever your political bend is, that revolution can be affected under governments like Muammar Qaddafi should be both inspiring and frightening.
The frame I’m trying to get across is that we should shift our question from “Why is this important?” to “Why is this important for us?” If we try to say something is important “because it is,” i.e. that democracy is good, it points to some value or ethic that comes not from that (nor any) particular context, but from judgments we carry with ourselves about the way things should be. We need to recognize that if we allow our dogmatisms (grunt … democracy good) to carry our opinions, it is not the particular place, culture or people we’re examining, but rather looking at a reflection of our biases.
“Why is this important for us?” then seems like an odd question to ask. Perhaps we’re wary of it because of the answer it probably gets in this situation, namely that it’s not important. Should it be? Should what goes on in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain and Lebanon matter to us? Probably, but that’s a question I’ll steer clear from answering. The point I’m trying to make is that “for us” makes a HUGE difference because, at the very least, it forces you to look at a particular instance, ask yourself whether it affects you and allows you to react to that information.
It’s the important stuff that matters, but it matters because it affects us. Stuff that doesn’t affect us shouldn’t disrupt us. It makes for a clearer life.