Middle East ™
The solution to the Middle Eastern puzzle has bemused politicians and intellectuals alike for the past 50 years, since the beginnings of decolonisation. If the riots and uprisings of the past year have shown anything it is that either the Middle East is not suited to democracy or is not at a stage of social development where such a solution would be applicable, Iraq also serves testament to this point. However there may be another solution available to the longevity of peace in the region; Consumerism.
If the history of Europe serves to show but one thing it is evolution, from a mass of squabbling states in what appeared to be perpetual war, to a point where peace has reigned, with a few exceptions from rogues on the outlaying region. This can in part be attributed to the European Union and the exporting of democracy to Germany. However this would only explain it on a state level, what has happened to the political idealism that lead to the Spanish Civil War being the final frontier, where Communism, Fascism and Democracy, fought it out with manpower supplied from the working class of the vast majority of European nations, and even with the supplementation of state sponsorship, e.g. The Nazi German Condor Legion fighting for the side of Fascism and the provision of Soviet arms to the Communists by the U.S.S.R. What happened to this political fervour, where is it today? The political free for all in Europe was vanquished by democracy, if the struggled showed anything it highlighted the point that totalitarian regime is the truest and purest form last a lifetime. Democracy has become so evolved now that it spawned a hybrid in the form of consumerism.
Sceptical? Look at the food we eat now compared with fifty or even thirty years ago, look at the uniform way in which we dress; how many males where jeans casually? The question on people’s lips is rarely now to do with politics, instead it has turned to the make of your trainers or the type of your android. What is most baffling is that on a national level we have been politically mugged by consumerism and the majority of us haven’t even blinked. What has become of the socialist working class bastions of Europe? Only a token garrison of supporters remain holding the fort, the majority have been bought off by package holidays and smart phones.
If the history of Europe serves to show but one thing it is evolution, from a mass of squabbling states in what appeared to be perpetual war, to a point where peace has reigned, with a few exceptions from rogues on the outlaying region. This can in part be attributed to the European Union and the exporting of democracy to Germany. However this would only explain it on a state level, what has happened to the political idealism that lead to the Spanish Civil War being the final frontier, where Communism, Fascism and Democracy, fought it out with manpower supplied from the working class of the vast majority of European nations, and even with the supplementation of state sponsorship, e.g. The Nazi German Condor Legion fighting for the side of Fascism and the provision of Soviet arms to the Communists by the U.S.S.R. What happened to this political fervour, where is it today? The political free for all in Europe was vanquished by democracy, if the struggled showed anything it highlighted the point that totalitarian regime is the truest and purest form last a lifetime. Democracy has become so evolved now that it spawned a hybrid in the form of consumerism.
Sceptical? Look at the food we eat now compared with fifty or even thirty years ago, look at the uniform way in which we dress; how many males where jeans casually? The question on people’s lips is rarely now to do with politics, instead it has turned to the make of your trainers or the type of your android. What is most baffling is that on a national level we have been politically mugged by consumerism and the majority of us haven’t even blinked. What has become of the socialist working class bastions of Europe? Only a token garrison of supporters remain holding the fort, the majority have been bought off by package holidays and smart phones.
The point at hand is that, the Middle East has shown to be the greatest political conundrum of history, colonisation was unsuccessful, totalitarian regimes pose a threat, and democracy has been flat out rejected (demonstrated by the subsequent instability of nations in the area after the removal of their relative dictators.) So instead of the U.S. and other benefactors throwing millions of dollars into converting them into little Americas politically, why not cut to the chase and do it socially via consumerism? Europe has already proven itself as the case study example. The two regions share similar traits of instability (Although Europe’s is history now.); political repression, conflicting religions and a politically active working class. Make no mistake about it, I’m not saying that the opening of Mac Donald’s and the introductions of designer shopping centres will cause the likes of Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda, to de-strap their bombs and put down their AK-47s overnight as that didn’t happen in Europe, what I am saying is that it will makes such activities outdated and questionable. As what has shown from the European example is that such groups have been marginalised to dubious outcasts and outdated intellectuals.
The main point as has been shown in Europe is that why would young people and society as a whole in the Middle East continue such activities of both political and religious jingoism when they could out dress their friends. Why would men devote themselves to holy war when they could wear Calvin Klein’s and Armani, to woo and amaze women? Why would women allow themselves to be repressed when they can wear makeup and objectify themselves to men? This sounds incredibly shrewd and chauvinistic, however go out to a major city on a Friday or Saturday night and tell me I’m wrong... Also look to the widespread defeat of feminism into obscurity, would the likes of Emile Pankhurst be pleased with the de-politicalisation of the female gender for the most part in favour of fashion? Once again this has come out of nowhere and mugged us, without so much as a blink.
The issue of religious fanaticism may cause teething problems, however with the rise of online communication mediums such as Facebook, and devious advertising this should be only a major setback, for was it not Europe that set out on the crusades and the persecution of the Jews? The atrocities which have stemmed from the area in the name of religion, show not a primacy, but a vacuum with which religious fundamentalism has filled, however give the consumerist seed twenty or so years to fertilise, and in that time it will most probably have blossomed into the tree of branded choice.
If consumerism has shown anything in the European context it is that given time it will defeat, political ideologies, make religion widely irrelevant and derail feminism. All of this after it has consumed jingoism and nationalism for breakfast. In this context is it so preposterous to suggest it as a solution to the Middle Eastern Puzzle?
Phil Jackman
Some people gave us a bio... Phil Jackman gave us this:
This god damned article, here have your words and be done with me deadline. Your Regime of fear over me is over, you will no longer stand over me like that fucking Gestapo thug, who got bullied all the way through the Weimar years, and suddenly found under the newly formed Nazi party that there were plenty of worm sized holes for exactly that kind of slimy, spineless downtrodden runt, to manipulate as a means to make the rest of society pay back every wrong he received in blood and tears. Well unlike the incredibly obedient German populace who in the extreme majority not only stood and let it happen, but in fact partook on various levels; right down to the sick train conductor who sold the Jews one way tickets to their death it the east, who later claimed ‘I was just doing my job, I didn’t want my family to suffer.’ I am going to stand up to you deadline and say no, you will not have me live in fear another day.
This god damned article, here have your words and be done with me deadline. Your Regime of fear over me is over, you will no longer stand over me like that fucking Gestapo thug, who got bullied all the way through the Weimar years, and suddenly found under the newly formed Nazi party that there were plenty of worm sized holes for exactly that kind of slimy, spineless downtrodden runt, to manipulate as a means to make the rest of society pay back every wrong he received in blood and tears. Well unlike the incredibly obedient German populace who in the extreme majority not only stood and let it happen, but in fact partook on various levels; right down to the sick train conductor who sold the Jews one way tickets to their death it the east, who later claimed ‘I was just doing my job, I didn’t want my family to suffer.’ I am going to stand up to you deadline and say no, you will not have me live in fear another day.