The mindset of Tyranny

The mindset of tyranny

Not that optimism is a bad thing, nor do I mean to say that I was never a proud optimist booing away realists and fighting pessimists with all my might, but I had realized, or rather learnt by experience that there is much to it than meets the eye and trying to effectively pick a side is next to impossible because there can’t and won’t be a shear right or wrong when it comes to this and no, realism is not the middle ground despite popular belief. You know what it’s like? It’s like those questions in surveys, you know the ones, the ones with six options ranging from extremely decisive to I just want to be nice because I don’t know what to say, when you have six options, and there is no middle option, you’ll have to pick a side, visual demonstration below :

That middle right there is where I believe realism lies, its not neutral, a realist has already taken a turn to the dark side, not to be confused with a pragmatist or a cynic. Ok ok I realize I have strayed away from the main topic, the mindset of tyranny. Ok here we go, so the other day Adam and I sat down to watch the announcement of the results of the first free and fair presidential elections in Egypt. The event is huge, all aspects aside, it’s big, it's elections and they're free AND fair.  Without going into the publically available details of the presidential race and all that went down, Morsi won the Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Yep, you heard right.  In case you’re not familiar with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, it’s the underdog, the looming evil that everyone fears and that the country was fending off for ages. Opinions are torn between those glad that military rule is finally gone and those scared of a doomed fate under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.  I will be commenting on the latter group.

For years, under the Mubarak rule, the Muslim Brotherhood has been excessively feared and demonized in every media outlet, movies, series, soap operas and pretty much any method of communication accessible to the public. Not here to discuss whether those efforts were legit or just “efforts” to fend off any sort of potent opposition facing the Mubarak regime.

 The fear of the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood is legit regardless of whether the reasons were fabricated or exaggerated. Similar experiences have failed, the most appropriate example would be the “Islamic Movement” in the southern neighbor “The Sudan” , but that’s a different entry.  Ok, so where was I…right, Muslim Brotherhood…bad idea! I say not necessarily, and here is why:

To come up with this analysis I had to combine what I know about optimism, pessimism and realism, so I can assume the mindset of a potential tyrant, here is what I came up with:

The optimist in me, wanted to believe that the revolution didn’t go to waste and wasn’t aborted in its final stage of the rough thorn rimmed route, I mean come on, long days of continuous protests, bravery in the face of brutality and a lot more details that are abundantly available in Aljazeera archives (Possible Entry) .  But the realist and the pessimist soon joined efforts to deflating that wishful thinking, basing their arguments on the saying that there is no sandstorm without dust or something to that effect, that all these years of Muslim Brotherhood phobia need to have stemmed from genuine reasons. After all was said and done, and” the said” was disproportionally greater than “the done”, I had figured it out, the peace treaty between all three, and finally some self-induced peace of mind. It is simple! No really! It is… ! If I were a tyrant , who’s  been warned against for ages, this is how I would proceed, for the first years of my administration, I will work hard to try and reverse as much as possible of the effects of the previous failed system, fix health, education and economy, things that will get people comfortable and silent! Gain their trust, maintain the momentum while “postponing” the big changes, to be able to use the time factor card, with visible progress and unsaid promises of more lurking in the horizon can guarantee a pass to the next round. This is when true colors emerge, subtle at first, but increasingly aggressive as time goes by until it gets to a point where I'm superglued to the chair with every law surprisingly on my side!

The optimist in me insists on having the final say, I guess nature topples nurture! If the above scenario is to go down, the people will get improved living conditions, the brotherhood will be exposed and the shackles of fear had already left with Mubarak and it can be done again and again and again……