Alaa Al-Aswani: Is Hypocrisy in the Nature of Egyptians?

Alaa Al-Aswani: Is hypocrisy in the nature of Egyptians?

August 14, 2018

Alaa Al-Aswani is one of Egypt's leading public intellectuals.
I transcribe his weekly columns at Deutsche Welle to my blog
for future reference. This week's remarks are a grim echo of a
similar level of hypocrisy in America as elected representatives
in both parties seem oblivious to the antics and moral turpitude
of our current president.   

The announcer was talking to a well-known journalist on a television show. The dialogue touched on the achievements of the Sisi and the two vied to praise her.
"Can i say ..?"

Panic appeared on the face of the announcer and he ignored her question and continued to praise Sisi, but she interrupted him saying:
"Please allow me to criticize the Sisi president."
He said in a low voice:
"Go ahead."
Here the journalist said:
"I want to criticize the Sisi president for two reasons: first because he no longer cares about his health. He is exerting superhuman effort to save Egypt, but he must give himself a chance to rest. I feel very sad whenever I see the face of his sovereignty pale and tired of the multitude of work."
The announcer breathed a sigh of relief and released his reports and then said:
"What is the second criticism?"
The journalist said enthusiastically:
"Second, critical aspects of the Sisi's sovereignty, because he kidnapped our hearts, we Egyptians, there is no place in our hearts for another love. We love the sissy.

This advanced level of professional hypocrisy may not be the same in many countries and it seems that with the large number of hypocrites, it is on the Sisi to agree to be new and creative. Yesterday I read an article by a young journalist who preaches that the more Sisi laughed on television, the more the Egyptian stock market rose so immediately that with each new laugh of the Sisi, the Egyptian economy is winning 4 billion pounds. [Note -- see video below.]

I do not think any economic school in the world connects the stock market to anybody's laugh, but it's a model of creative hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is not limited to Sisi, but extends to every job holder. He hopes to treat the subordinate as his manager in our country. He often praises him and always feels that he is a genius. He may spying on his colleagues and convey their news to his manager to get his satisfaction.

The hypocrisy does not stop at the praise of the director and the president. We had a land in Upper Egypt that was illegally appropriated by some people and when we filed a lawsuit to recover our land, we were surprised that most of the neighbors recognized our right to land but refused to testify before the court "to avoid problems." Last week, some friends alerted me to the fact that a university professor had raided several lectures I gave on dictatorship (all recorded and on YouTube). The professor of fine arts transferred my lectures to text and crafts and published them in two essays as his own.

Strangely, some of those who warned me about this blatant theft and strongly denounced it, did like our neighbors in Upper Egypt. They asked me not to tell anyone that they warned me to steal because they did not want problems. The silence on the right and the defense of falsehood and negative in the face of injustice and lying to give safety and flatter the heads .. All applications of hypocrisy is spreading in Egypt now more than ever before, which leads us to ask:

"Is hypocrisy nature in the Egyptians ..?"

The answer is categorically denied. The Egyptians have proved repeatedly in modern history that they are no less courageous than any other people. They fought in defense of Egypt in several wars and fought in defense of their rights in two great revolutions in 1919 and 2011. Why do the Egyptians then agree? We can not understand the phenomenon of hypocrisy in isolation from the political context. The ruling regime in any country is the one who gets out of the people better or worse.

Masri is hypocritical because he is simply totally desperate to achieve justice. He agrees because he knows for certain that efficiency does not necessarily lead to success and hard work does not necessarily lead to promotion and quality education is not a requirement for jobs and that the law applies only to the weak, but the "mighty", the laws are changed to protect them. The Egyptians know that the word of truth has become a heavy price and they are often unwilling to pay it.

The announcer who agrees Sisi knows that his future and the survival of his dependents in the hands of the security services controlling the media, even if he said the right or short in the hypocrisy of Sisi, he will lose his work immediately and there are hundreds of broadcasters hypocrites dream of taking his place. The journalist who complains that Sisi has kidnapped her heart knows very well that her words will bring people's contempt but will also bring the satisfaction of the authority that will open the doors of the future wide .. In democratic countries, citizens do not need to exercise hypocrisy because the rules are fair and the reasons lead to results.

If you work hard, you will go ahead and if you learn well, you will definitely get a job and if your manager gets angry, his hand is not absolute in your abuse because there are regulations that apply to everyone, including your manager. The citizen in a democratic country is not afraid to say the truth is not because it is more encouraging than the Egyptians, but because it is reassuring to protect the law applied by an independent judiciary equal between the big and the small.

Of course, we do not defend the hypocrites and do not ask them for excuses, but hypocrisy is not just a moral flaw, but a social phenomenon linked to the ruling regime. It is naive to imagine that we will get rid of hypocrisy through religious and moral preaching because hypocrisy is not the disease but rather a symptom of tyranny. When we get rid of tyranny and establish a real democratic system, Egyptians will not need to exercise hypocrisy because they will live in the protection of the law and will all be governed by fair rules that respect efficiency and effort and are given to everyone who is entitled.

Democracy is the solution

Go to this previous column for a fuller explanation of Sisi's laughing.

"You keep riding cars and doing that Kiki miki thingy," Sisi said before bursting out laughing at his own joke, when speaking about the reasons for Egypt's failed economy.
The audience at the university - presumably feeling like they had no choice - laughed along at the autocrat's joke. Sisi then turned around to the oil minister and jokingly said: "Hey, Engineer Tarek raise the price of petrol and don't worry," before he continued laughing.
Sisi's joke came as he discussed ways to repair the Egyptian economy. He accused the Egyptian people of being lazy and not living up to their promises to him. Sisi claimed Egyptians are not working hard enough and too busy interacting on social media - such as with the Kiki challenge - rather than doing "their bit" fixing the sluggish economy.