QUOTE OF THE DAY: Bertrand Russell

Today's quote is by the brilliant philosopher, social essayist, pacifist and Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Bertrand Russell:

"Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent."

 

The abolition of slavery, anyone?
The rights of women, anyone?
The equal rights of gays and lesbians, anyone?

How true are his words?

On a day in which I have already posted my opinions on this little thing called civilzation, the words of this towering colossus of an intellect, this most moral man and most eloquent philosopher, could not be more pertinent - or true.

RANT: Egypt's Clash of Civilizations

Chaos continues to rock Egypt.

The country has been gripped in a vice of popular uprising and all-out dissent for weeks now, very much in the aftermath of the highly controversial and divisive constitutional vote that has almost but swept the Muslim Brotherhood and sharia law into this brave land.


Photo courtesy of Russia Today (RT)

The outrage is palpable - and very real. For, as I see it from the outside and from afar, it is the clash between those (mostly urban) who desperately want a secular, democratic post-Mubarak Egypt, versus those Islamic (mostly rural- and poor-supported) fundamentalists, decidedly undemocratic forces that have been fermenting for years in that country, and who now very much have the upper hand.  

Is this synoptic analysis the musings of a typical Westerner who does not understand the complexities of Egyptian politics and society? I believe not. Whilst I would never, ever presume to be an expert on Egyptian issues and societies, nor am I that clueless about history and the machinations of how society falls apart when it is plain to see secular forces on the one side, and religious fundamentalist forces on the other.

The recent declaration by a court in Port Said to sentence a group of supporters to death for their 'role' in causing a stampede and subsequent riot at a football match in that port town, which resulted in many deaths, is indicative of in just what serious trouble this country is.

Sentenced to death for (possibly) contributing to people dying at a football stampede? It's madness - it is the rot of a society completely in disarray, with no notion of due process and with no firm moral compass. 

In my opinion, that immense, primal clash between these two forces are plain to see in current-day Egypt. And I defy anyone to see it as anything else - essentially and fundamentally, that is, and with all the nuances and peculiarities of the Egyptian context and reality, of course. And with all due respect to all involved.

However, history is more common to all of us than not. And as a secular humanist, I cannot sit back and see what is going on in Egypt for anything less than what it fundamentally appears to be - the clash between the secular and the religious. And I know for which side I must root. 

In the clash between modern Enlightenment values (which is the only way forward for any modern, democratic state, regardless of ethnicity, history or religious persuasion) and religious barbarism, one cannot sit back impassively. One must get angry - and worried. Religious fundamentalism of any kind is a cancerous, festering wound on any society, and must be vilified and fought at every turn.

That is why I hope that the demonstrators in Egypt keep fighting and baying for the ouster of President Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood henchmen - they have no choice in the matter. It's either fight, fight, fight, or be turned into yet another society shackled by religious fanatics - fanatics who are far more cynical and sinister than any secular forces could ever be.

Do you get my point?