Saturday 18 June 2011

On the Topic of Politics in Lebanon Part 1: My Proposed Political Ideology

I return to introduce to you the topic of Politics in Lebanon. Like most of us, we all have things we identify ourselves with. Things like family, tradition, arts, etc In Lebanon, however, it is not uncommon to see one who uses politics as his or her way of life. 

I have witnessed children barely knowing the difference between blue and red carry out political debates with their ignorant families just standing there smiling saying how cute they look to be talking about 'adult' matters. 

The saddest part of all this is really ignorance. Some close friends actually getting into fights cause of their opinions. We have that in University where NDU Debate wins and suddenly in LAU Beirut the Islamic Club wins - wow I am supposed to believe they're winning because they're sugar feeding everyone? They are doing a great job and praise goes to not only them but every other club. But still, let's be honest with ourselves. It's basic Gestalt Psychology called Common Fate. That is, similar objects going in the same direction become grouped together. That's what we have, a direction of sheep following people because they just want to be part of the bigger whole.

Now let's get serious. If you've taken a political science class then the ideologies won't be a bother then. (I love the fact my blog requires an educational background) Okay then! I've always been a Socialist and the way to happiness starts with strict rules. I can be the most spiritual African you'll ever meet but I'll be lying if I told you a donkey will obey without being hit by a stick.

Democracy is the only system we have that works best, according to eXperts. You want to know what I thought democracy always was? Picture a village of 100 people. 99 of these people are pure typical villagers and the remaining one has a PhD in Political Science and knows his or her thing. So is that it? Democracy is when 99 illiterates get the vote and the poor one gets nothing. Why do people accept such a system? Because they idea of rules makes them sick. Socialism and Communism were always straight to the point. Capitalism enjoys forcing the rules when you're not aware of it and yet the people who know that, still don't bother. 

So what's the problem with Lebanon? First of all geography. Lebanon is located in the Mediterranean hot spot, making it a Euro-Asia center with neighbors like Turkey up there, the entire Arab countries, and for some reason the holy land right down south. Usually, someone is either classified as European because he's got Europeans around him or Asian because Asia is around him. But Lebanon? It's got Cyprus on the west, Syria on the right, Turkey up there and Israel down south. Give me a break.

Now thanks to its beloved geography, over the years Lebanon has been able to have a strong tourist attraction. What I mean by that is the different religious groups and sects. So now with Christians, Muslims and Druze, we're supposed to have a state. What has this resulted in besides constant civil wars? Each war based on ignorance. 


Now to clarify something, human beings are naturally social creatures - we identify ourselves by nation, beliefs, attributes etc Throw 6 people in the jungle, 3 made of Christians and 3 made of Muslims. You think they're all going to sit down and have dinner? That's hollywood. The first thing they'll do is Christians here and Muslims there. It's natural and there's nothing wrong with it. 


So for now we have different political parties each representing a religious sect. I mean c'mon why do those even eXist? Where will you find a "Lebanese" uneducated Christian voting for an Islamic party? Whatever you find, it won't be the majority and the majority is what matters in democracy. So in conclusion, the political parties here are fail since nobody is going to vote on something beyond their background.


So what's my political proposed ideology? It's quite harsh and very far fetched but that's to prove that there's always hope - that a free thinker has a right to say something. 


First of all, the country's voting age literally doesn't have a limit. As long as you're breathing you can vote. What did I find wrong with that? Well, first of all Lebanon did some massive changes in twenty years. All of us teenagers reading this have gone to school and know what the outside world really is like. The problem is that I know many friends whose grand fathers are farmers. Now nothing wrong with farmers but that's everything wrong when it comes to awareness. What I personally believe is that the voting age should have a limit because I don't think someone who grows crops should have much to do with politics. I mean sure you like that guy and he's a good speaker but sorry old timer, you don't have much to live for anyways. 


This made me realize something, and something where I based my ideology on: Education. I mean the city of Tripoli gets the most vote but Tripoli is literally off the discussion when it comes to education. Most and I mean most of the citizens don't know much about politics. To them, they just want someone that would make their lives better. The same story has been going around for 40 years. Imagine you've never went to school and you have no idea what global warming is about. How then will you vote for an environmentalist? To them, it's just: Ha! She wants to save the trees! What are trees? We're dying here etc. Once again, this just passes by. 


So on education! If you need help with programming, you go to a programmer. If you need therapy, you go to a licensed psychologist. If you need politics, give it to someone who knows the game. How many political leaders do we have that shouldn't be up there? How many of them do you know hold degrees in the area? How can we, and most importantly our parents, fall for this stupidity. How can we vote for people who was given political power yet doesn't know anything regarding the field - he's just loved for his charisma. 

In order to test the capabilities, intelligence testing will be given out. If people could go around to collect the census, they might as well give intelligence testing. The intelligence test will be based on logic and visionary ideas both objective and subjective rather than just a high IQ. Cultural Tests are not needed because Lebanon itself is already a cultural nation and does need any cultural influence in its politics. 


So moving on my ideology, I believe democracy in Lebanon if you only give the majority of people who have knowledge in the field the right to vote. What I mean is that if you have a degree in social sciences, you're better in conjuring ideas than that of a fisherman. Like it or not, it's the truth. I rather give my trust to my political science teacher than to give it to my biologist. 


So what about the state? The puppet masters! Here I believe the state should be communist and by that, I mean atheist as well. Why? Well I mentioned above the biggest mistake Lebanese do is first identify by religion before identifying what village or family they hail from. If the state is atheist, then the feeling should be close to neutral.


That's the basic idea - cut the voting age, make the state neutral, and allow certain people with the right resources to make the decisions for themselves and their families. This way, rather than a thug of war - a neutral decision can be made. 


"History is Economics in Action" - Karl MarX.


Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

  1. great work man :) keep it up, i'm for your ideology :)

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  2. Thanks, Ramy! I'm glad it made sense to a political genius such as yourself :D Cheers

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