Tags
conflict, confrontation, cyprus, ethics, faith, intellectuals, life, peace, politics, reconciliation, society
To Muharrem Özdemir… With love and respect
Çağıl Günalp, cakilgunalp@gmail.com
How is it possible to achieve faculty of confrontation for those who are competent to forget everything and drowned in principles that dominates today’s life? If we consider the irresistible/invincible bond between speech-thought-emotion and stance; how is it possible to obtain an-other intellectual deed? Can we achieve an-other perspective by ignoring the role of new “words” and “perception”? As it was indicated by Süleyman Talay, in the journal Birikim; how is it possible to confront realities without obtaining an-other aspect and vision?..
There is a well-known common cliché which says that whoever ignores confrontation is enslaved by corruption… In that respect; could it be claimed that corruption is the object of the “ignorance” as like being subjected to it? Can one argue that people refrain or avoid confrontation because they are corrupted? Moreover, how is it possible to achieve Thomas Moore’s “utopia” without eradicating tendencies, mental slavery and dogmas which are imposed by today’s life? How, new cultural evolution can be achieved without having a new language? How can those who consider confrontation a bleeding wound be freed from dogmas imposed by puissance? How can they obtain morality while considering confrontation as a burden instead of dressing the wound?
Is it possible to create a notion of justice while ignoring the significance of confrontation? Could it be asserted that all principles/values without justice and equality are the root of violence? The ‘Climax’ of ignor/ance paralyzes our minds… Instant motivations and inconsistency are increasingly becoming the ‘fuel’ of today’s principles… Principles that are rendering people as unconscious consumers… Principles which day by day make individuals viscously unsatisfied creatures… Principles which plunge or push us into amnesia… Sometimes unwittingly, sometimes deliberately, today’s capitalist/excessively civilized individuals are trapped in shallow impulsions, increasingly drowning in emotional pornography… It is fair to claim that due to the addiction of consumption, selfish interests, submissiveness and disguised slavery of today’s excessively civilized capitalist world, our hearts and minds are being paralyzed… Ignoring the role of confrontation is making this “paralysis” even much more catastrophic…
It is crystal clear to claim that violence, intolerance, denial have an utmost importance in today’s World order… Not to mention, in order to maintain its hegemony; today’s new World order is integrated enough to create artificial and manageable crises. Even more remarkable, today’s new World order wishes to melt humanity in the single pot and create stereotype individuals. Stereotype individuals who are losing critical thinking skills and tend to be in the mental slavery. To summarize what I mentioned above, these kind of situations could be regarded as means of reverse evolution of humanity. Such that, along its evolution, the human race has always questioned, searched, judged and observed… When today’s homo-sapiens were still walking on all fours; their brains evolved, adapting to survive from threats and dangers. When homo-sapiens were simple primates jumping from tree to tree, due to climate change and dwindling food supplies, they were forced to stand on their feet to pick food from the branches of trees. These circumstances forced primitive creatures to become the two legged Homo Habilis… When Homo Erectus came along the ladder of evolution he intended to communicate and apart from his body language, he tried to use his mouth… Therefore his chin and mouth evolved, his brain again became much more functional.
As I was indicted above, today this evolution is on a reversing trend… Every passing day, modern humans are communicating, analysing, arguing, foreseeing and judging less. To the contrary they are more aggressive and inclined to react. Day by day the number of people who are eager to engage with violence is increasing. Moreover, people feel empowered when carrying out such violent acts… These kinds of tendencies can only be explained within the shallow idea, corrupt principles that are dominating postmodern life of today’s capitalist World… All of these realities lead us yearn for life in the pre-civilized eras… Where individuals did not seek to dominate nature and others. Where these kinds of individuals always considered themselves as a part of nature and they respected the natural cycle and the others’ right to exist… Where a person, was not coerced into hierarchy, hypocrisy, shallowness and corruption…
Ibn Khaldun who is regarded founder of Sociology believes that “geography is destiny”… For sure, geography can be regarded as means of destiny… But can we consider values that dominate particular geographies as destiny as well? Isn’t that kind of “acceptance” or passivity is the cynicism/conformism? It can be fairly indicated that the geography we live in has been facing destruction of violence for centuries… What is more violence is being justified and supported by imperialist Powers for years… Imagine a piece of geography where hundreds of unsolved murders has left its mark in every single corner…
If we consider geographies where unsolved murdering/violence has ”legitimacy” in their societies and valued by puissance; confronting reality and exposing criminals are more than a need: It is obligation and conscientious responsibility to heal the wound… It is a must in order to prevent a repetition of such atrocities! Keeping tolerance, reason and empathy superior to all other values can be a good start to create a new cultural evolution…. This kind of pursuit might be a milestone to find remedies for bleeding wounds…
If traumas are ignored and denied, they can suddenly emerge in another destructive form… One of the most prominent intellectuals in Turkey, Tanıl Bora underlines that people in this era can barely dare to confront their history where forgetting is being promoted. As it is highlighted by Bora; it is still very difficult to apologize and confront because this requires a struggle and effort… In order to avoid traumas people should act objectively and empathically instead of reacting with hysteria and anger… As it was stated by assassinated Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s wife Rakel at her husband’s funeral: “Today I’m here with great sorrow and dignity. Me, my kids, my family and you; we’re all in deep sorrow. This silent love holds us, gives us a aggrieved joy. John 15:13, the Bible says nobody has a greater love than the one who gives one’s life for one’s friends. Dear friends, today we mourn and salute my other half, my love, father of my children, your brother. We’ll be marching silently without disturbing those near us, without chanting slogans, without banners. With this silence, we’ll cry aloud today. Today is the day when deep darkness would reach out to light. Whatever would be the age of the murderers, 17 or 27, I know that they were born babies once. Without questioning the darkness that created murderers from those babies, there’s nothing to do, my brothers and sisters.”