Watching the news from the comfort of home so very far away, one can’t help but feel a little bad for Mubarak, so hopelessly outnumbered, outwitted, not to mention outdated! His mighty propaganda machine elegantly outmaneuvered by modern social media, which had become mainstream in Egypt just a few years ago, practically pulling the propaganda rug from under Mubarak’s feet without him even noticing. His every last desperate tactic at restoring order the old-school way outclassed by masses of savvy youth moving in unison and communicating at the speed of light. The whole world watching his humiliation as he basically gets schooled by a bunch of kids. It feels like watching that fantasy movie when a medieval army tries to fend off a modern air strike with bows and arrows! - Wait, was that a movie, I think it might have been CNN coverage of the war in Afghanistan -
I’m not very interested in politics, but I’m fascinated with the endless depth of human psyche: One can’t help but wonder, under such extreme pressure, and with no viable hope of redemption and no possible way out, why won’t Mubarak just negotiate a deal with America, grab some pocket change (a billion or two), hop on his private jet and BOLT??
To answer that, you must do a very difficult thing: You must assume the position of the unpopular guy, basically try to become the very person you don’t respect, and force yourself to see the world through his eyes. Don’t you wonder what the world looks like from Mubarak’s eyes today?
Well, first off, he’s a very different person than most of us. We’re talking about a man who did his military training in Soviet Moscow, and flew air fighters at supersonic speeds at times when Egypt was at war with Israel and it’s superior air force. It takes a certain character, definitely exceptional courage, to sign up for this sort of thing. It also takes a lot of confidence, ambition, and charisma to move all the way up the chain from air force pilot to leader of the entire air force, and still want more.
But it takes more than that, I think. It takes a certain kind of self-righteousness, the rare ability to value your own perspective as the ultimate truth, and never waver, never second-guess yourself in the face of unending cries of opposition.
Mubarak, no doubt, must view himself as a hero. A god-given gift to his people. I really doubt that his intentions are or ever were evil, selfish, or self-serving. A person who doesn’t believe in the validity of his own moral compass can strive to become a successful thief, a menace, or worse, a marketing guru, but definitely not a decorated war hero. That’s not exactly a good career path for somebody who isn't interested in serving the public good, or who doesn’t believe in his ability to serve the public good.
I think Mubarak, over the last few decades, has enshrined himself in a huge bubble of self-worth, so that his ego and pride have grown to epic proportions. He likely believes that his years of service are the only thing that kept his beloved country away from harm, and that nobody in the country could possibly do better, or even comparably well. I suspect he had developed a caretaker complex over the years, so that he is now convinced that Egypt without him has no hope, no future, and is surely going to fall into the abyss.
Being so self-righteous and determined, he must have come off as a ruthless dictator to those close to him, inciting feelings of fear that drove them to shower him with compliments and silenced any tendency to discuss or debate anything with him. He would have basically ended up with a cabinet of yes men, always quick to note how much of a wonderful leader he was. This self-feeding cycle would have built up year after year, which in my opinion is how dictators are grown out of well-meaning people.
As for the massive amount of corruption Mubarak’s regime have been infamous for, those are probably easiest to explain: Laws, of course, only make sense when applied to regular citizens. When you believe you’re a superhero, it follows that you believe you’re above the law. Asking Mubarak why he didn’t abide by his own country’s laws or constitution is like asking Superman why he didn’t stop at a red light while chasing a runaway baddie.
As for money, a person who views himself as the sole savior of his entire country, can surely justify to himself the right to benefit from that country’s riches. He wouldn’t admit to himself any feelings of greed, instead, he would probably convince himself that maintaining a luxurious standard of living is a well deserved privilege of his continued excellent service, and a necessary step to make sure his mind stays focused on the paramount task of leading the country, a task nobody else could do as well. He would also freely use government money to keep his entourage happy, his enemies under check, and his friends motivated. All that he’d chalk up to ingenious tactics needed to keep the country stable and the enemies at bay. That’s not corruption, therefore, but rather a well-justified national expense. There is no other way, and the alternative is chaos and suffering for his beloved people. If only those masses of simple-minded people could understand...
Finally, on using force to terrorize his own people, well, it’s a little like slapping a kid on their hand to teach them a lesson for their own good. The all mighty dictator cannot talk sense into everybody. Some need to suffer, even die, in order to serve as a lesson for the rest, lest they harm their own country. It’s a worth-while sacrifice. Fear is a justified tool to use to prevent mindless people from hurting themselves and others.
Now can you see why Mubarak just can’t leave? His bubble doesn’t fit through the door! In order to leave, he’d have to pierce his own bubble. He’d have to admit to himself that it had all been a lie. That the real motive was greed, and that he hadn’t served the people well. Even in the face of certain defeat, it is much easier to be defeated -even killed- by a bunch of renegades who don’t know any better, than to take a look at the mirror and say “I’m a dictator”.
Mubarak must fight. It really is the only option to maintain the self-delusion. Luckily, a fight is exactly what the people of Egypt now need. To bow down easily and quit would serve little good to them. To negotiate his way out peacefully and step down gradually would deliver a devastating blow to the people:
Egypt is in need of an ICONOCLASM, and nothing less will do. There needs to be a real struggle, followed by an explosive ring of victory. Things need to blow with loud booms, Hollywood style!
That’s because, sometimes, you need to destroy something and watch is physically shatter before you can truly let go. The idea of a clean slate in the abstract won’t do:
The average person in today’s Egypt probably lived their entire life tasting defeat and submission. Their recent history is laden with defeat, both military, political, and economic, and social. To quote Obama, they had been "Outeducated, outinnovated, and outbuilt" by every other comparable nation. Their most recent victory is so long ago that the average Egyptian only read about it in history books, sandwiched between one defeat and another. Your average Egyptian is savvy enough to browse the net, yet only to become more aware of just how deplorable his world is compared to the multitudes of prosperous worlds out there in a parallel universe that is permanently out of reach yet unavoidably visible through TVs and computer screens. It would be really hard, born and raised into such reality, not to develop some sort of inferiority complex, if in the slightest, carefully hidden deep within, and protected with walls of rhetoric and cliches.
Today’s Egypt is a failed state, and its people probably view themselves as failed people, inferior to a point beyond comparison to the people of say, France or Australia. And this is exactly why there needs to be a fight, and there needs to be big bang.
Because, for Egyptians, the last few decades had been a sad movie. And a movie needs a proper happy ending before a new movie can start. They need to feel that they have snatched a victory with their own hands, without anybody’s help, and against a villain who struggled convincingly till the very end. It takes this sort of victory to restore an Egyptian’s self confidence, and wash away decades of self-pity and defeatist attitudes.
Only then can an Egyptian say to herself: It wasn’t because of me, all that failure and defeat. My nation was taken hostage by a bad regime. I had my hands tied, and it took me a while to overcome my captor. Now I’m free. Now wonderful things can happen.
I’m not very interested in politics, but I’m fascinated with the endless depth of human psyche: One can’t help but wonder, under such extreme pressure, and with no viable hope of redemption and no possible way out, why won’t Mubarak just negotiate a deal with America, grab some pocket change (a billion or two), hop on his private jet and BOLT??
To answer that, you must do a very difficult thing: You must assume the position of the unpopular guy, basically try to become the very person you don’t respect, and force yourself to see the world through his eyes. Don’t you wonder what the world looks like from Mubarak’s eyes today?
Well, first off, he’s a very different person than most of us. We’re talking about a man who did his military training in Soviet Moscow, and flew air fighters at supersonic speeds at times when Egypt was at war with Israel and it’s superior air force. It takes a certain character, definitely exceptional courage, to sign up for this sort of thing. It also takes a lot of confidence, ambition, and charisma to move all the way up the chain from air force pilot to leader of the entire air force, and still want more.
But it takes more than that, I think. It takes a certain kind of self-righteousness, the rare ability to value your own perspective as the ultimate truth, and never waver, never second-guess yourself in the face of unending cries of opposition.
Mubarak, no doubt, must view himself as a hero. A god-given gift to his people. I really doubt that his intentions are or ever were evil, selfish, or self-serving. A person who doesn’t believe in the validity of his own moral compass can strive to become a successful thief, a menace, or worse, a marketing guru, but definitely not a decorated war hero. That’s not exactly a good career path for somebody who isn't interested in serving the public good, or who doesn’t believe in his ability to serve the public good.
I think Mubarak, over the last few decades, has enshrined himself in a huge bubble of self-worth, so that his ego and pride have grown to epic proportions. He likely believes that his years of service are the only thing that kept his beloved country away from harm, and that nobody in the country could possibly do better, or even comparably well. I suspect he had developed a caretaker complex over the years, so that he is now convinced that Egypt without him has no hope, no future, and is surely going to fall into the abyss.
Being so self-righteous and determined, he must have come off as a ruthless dictator to those close to him, inciting feelings of fear that drove them to shower him with compliments and silenced any tendency to discuss or debate anything with him. He would have basically ended up with a cabinet of yes men, always quick to note how much of a wonderful leader he was. This self-feeding cycle would have built up year after year, which in my opinion is how dictators are grown out of well-meaning people.
As for the massive amount of corruption Mubarak’s regime have been infamous for, those are probably easiest to explain: Laws, of course, only make sense when applied to regular citizens. When you believe you’re a superhero, it follows that you believe you’re above the law. Asking Mubarak why he didn’t abide by his own country’s laws or constitution is like asking Superman why he didn’t stop at a red light while chasing a runaway baddie.
As for money, a person who views himself as the sole savior of his entire country, can surely justify to himself the right to benefit from that country’s riches. He wouldn’t admit to himself any feelings of greed, instead, he would probably convince himself that maintaining a luxurious standard of living is a well deserved privilege of his continued excellent service, and a necessary step to make sure his mind stays focused on the paramount task of leading the country, a task nobody else could do as well. He would also freely use government money to keep his entourage happy, his enemies under check, and his friends motivated. All that he’d chalk up to ingenious tactics needed to keep the country stable and the enemies at bay. That’s not corruption, therefore, but rather a well-justified national expense. There is no other way, and the alternative is chaos and suffering for his beloved people. If only those masses of simple-minded people could understand...
Finally, on using force to terrorize his own people, well, it’s a little like slapping a kid on their hand to teach them a lesson for their own good. The all mighty dictator cannot talk sense into everybody. Some need to suffer, even die, in order to serve as a lesson for the rest, lest they harm their own country. It’s a worth-while sacrifice. Fear is a justified tool to use to prevent mindless people from hurting themselves and others.
Now can you see why Mubarak just can’t leave? His bubble doesn’t fit through the door! In order to leave, he’d have to pierce his own bubble. He’d have to admit to himself that it had all been a lie. That the real motive was greed, and that he hadn’t served the people well. Even in the face of certain defeat, it is much easier to be defeated -even killed- by a bunch of renegades who don’t know any better, than to take a look at the mirror and say “I’m a dictator”.
Mubarak must fight. It really is the only option to maintain the self-delusion. Luckily, a fight is exactly what the people of Egypt now need. To bow down easily and quit would serve little good to them. To negotiate his way out peacefully and step down gradually would deliver a devastating blow to the people:
Egypt is in need of an ICONOCLASM, and nothing less will do. There needs to be a real struggle, followed by an explosive ring of victory. Things need to blow with loud booms, Hollywood style!
That’s because, sometimes, you need to destroy something and watch is physically shatter before you can truly let go. The idea of a clean slate in the abstract won’t do:
The average person in today’s Egypt probably lived their entire life tasting defeat and submission. Their recent history is laden with defeat, both military, political, and economic, and social. To quote Obama, they had been "Outeducated, outinnovated, and outbuilt" by every other comparable nation. Their most recent victory is so long ago that the average Egyptian only read about it in history books, sandwiched between one defeat and another. Your average Egyptian is savvy enough to browse the net, yet only to become more aware of just how deplorable his world is compared to the multitudes of prosperous worlds out there in a parallel universe that is permanently out of reach yet unavoidably visible through TVs and computer screens. It would be really hard, born and raised into such reality, not to develop some sort of inferiority complex, if in the slightest, carefully hidden deep within, and protected with walls of rhetoric and cliches.
Today’s Egypt is a failed state, and its people probably view themselves as failed people, inferior to a point beyond comparison to the people of say, France or Australia. And this is exactly why there needs to be a fight, and there needs to be big bang.
Because, for Egyptians, the last few decades had been a sad movie. And a movie needs a proper happy ending before a new movie can start. They need to feel that they have snatched a victory with their own hands, without anybody’s help, and against a villain who struggled convincingly till the very end. It takes this sort of victory to restore an Egyptian’s self confidence, and wash away decades of self-pity and defeatist attitudes.
Only then can an Egyptian say to herself: It wasn’t because of me, all that failure and defeat. My nation was taken hostage by a bad regime. I had my hands tied, and it took me a while to overcome my captor. Now I’m free. Now wonderful things can happen.
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