In the country of the blind the one eyed man is king
In this novel, HG wells, told the story of Nunez, A mountaineer who who slips and falls into some city that's been isolated from the world for centuries, the inhabitants, lost their eyesight over the years, in a manner that they didn't even realize they lost one of their senses, they designed the world to match the four senses they've got. Hence their perception of the world was different than that of a sighted person, they lived in a totally world, interpreting everything using their remaining senses, in a way they never missed their eyesight. Arriving to their valley Nunez tried to introduce them to eyesight, he spent most of the novel trying to convince them what they were missing, and failing at it miserably, they simply didn't know it, want it or need it. they actually thought he was crazy with his obsessed with this imaginary thing called eyesight, eventually deeming him crazy and that the only cure for his obsession would be the removal of these orbs he had in his head (his eyes), at which point he escaped the village.
In a way Dr.El Baradei reminds me of Nunez, falling into a city thats lacking an necessity of life, and not knowing it, and then defending their way of life when challenged. completely at piece with what they've got and not aspiring to change that, actually fearing change even if it'd greatly improve their quality of life. Dr. El Baradei arrived to Egypt promising democracy, he had this assumption that people needed would actively pursue it, however what he didn't realize is that people in fact fear it, they've been living without it for so long they'd not understand it need and most probably fear it.
Over the past few months of freedom I've had many conversations about the Egyptian revolution, as it turns out most older people who've been living without democracy or freedom for most of their lives, can't understand or accept them, they just fear democracy and can't accept it, just like the people in that valley rejected eyesight.
I'm copying this from wikipedia,the themes mentioned in that novel, I'm not going to comment on them but you can see how they are reflected in our Egyptian reality.
In this novel, HG wells, told the story of Nunez, A mountaineer who who slips and falls into some city that's been isolated from the world for centuries, the inhabitants, lost their eyesight over the years, in a manner that they didn't even realize they lost one of their senses, they designed the world to match the four senses they've got. Hence their perception of the world was different than that of a sighted person, they lived in a totally world, interpreting everything using their remaining senses, in a way they never missed their eyesight. Arriving to their valley Nunez tried to introduce them to eyesight, he spent most of the novel trying to convince them what they were missing, and failing at it miserably, they simply didn't know it, want it or need it. they actually thought he was crazy with his obsessed with this imaginary thing called eyesight, eventually deeming him crazy and that the only cure for his obsession would be the removal of these orbs he had in his head (his eyes), at which point he escaped the village.
In a way Dr.El Baradei reminds me of Nunez, falling into a city thats lacking an necessity of life, and not knowing it, and then defending their way of life when challenged. completely at piece with what they've got and not aspiring to change that, actually fearing change even if it'd greatly improve their quality of life. Dr. El Baradei arrived to Egypt promising democracy, he had this assumption that people needed would actively pursue it, however what he didn't realize is that people in fact fear it, they've been living without it for so long they'd not understand it need and most probably fear it.
Over the past few months of freedom I've had many conversations about the Egyptian revolution, as it turns out most older people who've been living without democracy or freedom for most of their lives, can't understand or accept them, they just fear democracy and can't accept it, just like the people in that valley rejected eyesight.
I'm copying this from wikipedia,the themes mentioned in that novel, I'm not going to comment on them but you can see how they are reflected in our Egyptian reality.
- An isolated community will generally overcome any disability like blindness after a few generations.
- Having adapted to cope with such disabilities, an isolated community will believe that its modified behaviour is normal.
- An isolated community will tend to be closed-minded and xenophobic, and will persecute and (if necessary) maim anyone who is different and/or non-conformist.
- The maxim, "In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King", from Desiderius Erasmus, is not necessarily always true.
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