Written by / Professor Muhammad Rabie from Washington
The reality of life indicates that most people have become more interested in matter and less concerned with values. This made the craving for money become the first goal for the majority of people, rather than working to enrich life and discover its meaning. In their relentless pursuit of collecting money, the owners of wealth got involved in battles, most of which were of their own making, because it is difficult for them to accept reality, or work to change it in order to become more just, because justice contradicts their aspirations. Therefore, today’s wealthy are looking for pleasure, money, and sources of power as a means to escape from reality and the prevailing poverty, misery, and deprivation. As a result, a global elite that controls money and the means of power has crystallized. This caused the spread of poverty and the decline of the middle class, and created a moral crisis that pushes most people to escape from misery, as if life is formed from a vacuum, and pleasure is derived from loneliness and daydreaming.
In the era of agriculture, the rich felt a strong duty to help the poor, because helping the poor was a means used by the rich to atone for their sins and draw closer to God in a society of deep faith. In the industrial age, helping the poor was useful to the rich as a way to express their generosity and responsibility towards society, and as a tool to strengthen their positions in an environment where strong nationalism prevailed. But in the era of globalization and knowledge, where greed dominates, individualism dominates, and religious and non-religious ideologies decline, helping the poor is no longer an issue of concern to the rich, because it is of no benefit to them. And since it was possible to isolate the poor, and the success of most societies in isolating them from view, the poor of the world have become a neglected and forgotten issue to a large extent. And caring for them is much less than they deserve and need. In the not-too-distant past, society used to provide aid to the needy when it was able, and neglected distress calls while crying when it was unable to help.
In light of these developments, rich and poor societies need to develop their values and attitudes to confront injustice, oppression, lack of freedom, greed, materialism and individualism, and the consequences of these problems on the life of the individual and the future of society. Because of the cultural nature of these issues, addressing them requires a non-traditional education system that focuses on the human dimension of life and works to instill new values in the hearts and minds of students that develop their belonging to society and a sense of citizenship and the rights and duties of citizenship. This process also needs a media that is aware of and committed to ethical and humanitarian issues. Because of the role that politics plays in people’s lives, this process of change needs a conscious political will that is committed to reform, and that respects human humanity, freedom, and the right to education and to live a dignified life.
Since the era of independence, Arab countries have tended to imitate the West and import some of its technology, institutions and life models. However, the things that were borrowed reflect a facet of the life of a society living in a different civilized era, causing confusion in the life of Arab societies. As it is the nature of imitation and quotation without development to negatively affect traditions, customs, attitudes, values and social relations without contributing to the development of the economy or the social or cultural structure to the extent required. In fact, some of the tools and institutions that the Arabs borrowed from the West contributed to perpetuating tyrannical regimes, disrupting the process of political transformation, and preventing the crystallization of an environment conducive to economic development, scientific progress, and societal renaissance. And since the quotation is usually done with the aim of providing what the dominant elites desire in society in terms of goods and ideas that enhance their social positions, the results of quotation are often negative for the lives of the poor and the weak. For example, the army, police, and intelligence institutions contributed to depleting a large part of the Arab state’s resources, while enabling the political and economic elites to control people’s lives and confiscate many of their human and economic rights. As a result, the modernization process led by the World Bank caused the general public to feel lost, confused, and society disintegrated, rather than leading them to the paradise that donors and Bank experts heralded, and which was waiting for the weak and the powerful, the rich and the poor alike.
Societies living in the current era of knowledge are characterized by their tendency towards individualism, materialism, and greed, and preoccupation with manufacturing knowledge, information, and services and marketing them in various countries of the world, regardless of their consequences on the lives and cultures of buyers. As for industrial societies, they tend to adhere to cultural and national ties, and to manufacture goods according to the tastes of consumers in order to obtain the highest possible material returns. As for the societies that live in pre-industrial times, they tend to adhere to family ties and traditional values and the associated special loyalties, and they are mainly engaged in cultivating the land. And since the chain of power in these societies is hierarchical, the state forms the top of the social pyramid that controls society and the economy, which makes it difficult for citizens to obtain their freedoms and rights, and it is easy for the political and economic elites to confiscate those rights and seize a large part of the country’s wealth.
When a material culture based on money prevails in the life of a society, life is more free and dynamic, but less fair and respectful of traditions and values. Collecting money is a self-moving process, trying to reproduce itself without regard to principles or ethics. But when a national culture prevails in the life of society, life tends to move in place with little regard for time, which makes the goals of society focus mainly on achieving cultural and political achievements rather than economic ones. And when a totalitarian philosophy based on historical or religious imperatives prevails in society, life tends to stagnate, which makes society move very slowly, while its competitors move forward with great speed that condemns it to lag behind others and time.
Written by / Professor Muhammad Rabie from Washington
The reality of life indicates that most people have become more interested in matter and less concerned with values. This made the craving for money become the first goal for the majority of people, rather than working to enrich life and discover its meaning. In their relentless pursuit of collecting money, the owners of wealth got involved in battles, most of which were of their own making, because it is difficult for them to accept reality, or work to change it in order to become more just, because justice contradicts their aspirations. Therefore, today’s wealthy are looking for pleasure, money, and sources of power as a means to escape from reality and the prevailing poverty, misery, and deprivation. As a result, a global elite that controls money and the means of power has crystallized. This caused the spread of poverty and the decline of the middle class, and created a moral crisis that pushes most people to escape from misery, as if life is formed from a vacuum, and pleasure is derived from loneliness and daydreaming.
In the era of agriculture, the rich felt a strong duty to help the poor, because helping the poor was a means used by the rich to atone for their sins and draw closer to God in a society of deep faith. In the industrial age, helping the poor was useful to the rich as a way to express their generosity and responsibility towards society, and as a tool to strengthen their positions in an environment where strong nationalism prevailed. But in the era of globalization and knowledge, where greed dominates, individualism dominates, and religious and non-religious ideologies decline, helping the poor is no longer an issue of concern to the rich, because it is of no benefit to them. And since it was possible to isolate the poor, and the success of most societies in isolating them from view, the poor of the world have become a neglected and forgotten issue to a large extent. And caring for them is much less than they deserve and need. In the not-too-distant past, society used to provide aid to the needy when it was able, and neglected distress calls while crying when it was unable to help.
In light of these developments, rich and poor societies need to develop their values and attitudes to confront injustice, oppression, lack of freedom, greed, materialism and individualism, and the consequences of these problems on the life of the individual and the future of society. Because of the cultural nature of these issues, addressing them requires a non-traditional education system that focuses on the human dimension of life and works to instill new values in the hearts and minds of students that develop their belonging to society and a sense of citizenship and the rights and duties of citizenship. This process also needs a media that is aware of and committed to ethical and humanitarian issues. Because of the role that politics plays in people’s lives, this process of change needs a conscious political will that is committed to reform, and that respects human humanity, freedom, and the right to education and to live a dignified life.
Since the era of independence, Arab countries have tended to imitate the West and import some of its technology, institutions and life models. However, the things that were borrowed reflect a facet of the life of a society living in a different civilized era, causing confusion in the life of Arab societies. As it is the nature of imitation and quotation without development to negatively affect traditions, customs, attitudes, values and social relations without contributing to the development of the economy or the social or cultural structure to the extent required. In fact, some of the tools and institutions that the Arabs borrowed from the West contributed to perpetuating tyrannical regimes, disrupting the process of political transformation, and preventing the crystallization of an environment conducive to economic development, scientific progress, and societal renaissance. And since the quotation is usually done with the aim of providing what the dominant elites desire in society in terms of goods and ideas that enhance their social positions, the results of quotation are often negative for the lives of the poor and the weak. For example, the army, police, and intelligence institutions contributed to depleting a large part of the Arab state’s resources, while enabling the political and economic elites to control people’s lives and confiscate many of their human and economic rights. As a result, the modernization process led by the World Bank caused the general public to feel lost, confused, and society disintegrated, rather than leading them to the paradise that donors and Bank experts heralded, and which was waiting for the weak and the powerful, the rich and the poor alike.
Societies living in the current era of knowledge are characterized by their tendency towards individualism, materialism, and greed, and preoccupation with manufacturing knowledge, information, and services and marketing them in various countries of the world, regardless of their consequences on the lives and cultures of buyers. As for industrial societies, they tend to adhere to cultural and national ties, and to manufacture goods according to the tastes of consumers in order to obtain the highest possible material returns. As for the societies that live in pre-industrial times, they tend to adhere to family ties and traditional values and the associated special loyalties, and they are mainly engaged in cultivating the land. And since the chain of power in these societies is hierarchical, the state forms the top of the social pyramid that controls society and the economy, which makes it difficult for citizens to obtain their freedoms and rights, and it is easy for the political and economic elites to confiscate those rights and seize a large part of the country’s wealth.
When a material culture based on money prevails in the life of a society, life is more free and dynamic, but less fair and respectful of traditions and values. Collecting money is a self-moving process, trying to reproduce itself without regard to principles or ethics. But when a national culture prevails in the life of society, life tends to move in place with little regard for time, which makes the goals of society focus mainly on achieving cultural and political achievements rather than economic ones. And when a totalitarian philosophy based on historical or religious imperatives prevails in society, life tends to stagnate, which makes society move very slowly, while its competitors move forward with great speed that condemns it to lag behind others and time.
