Just a quick word on the protests in Egypt. I have to look in awe at the unity of the Egyptian protests. To be sure, there are those who are pro-regime, and there are those groups within that teeming crowd of anti-regime protesters who have differing belief systems; but, nevertheless, they stand unified against the totalitarianism of the current government. They stand united against the government’s presence, against its belief system, against its tactics and stratagems of governance.
I look in awe at these protests because of the manner in which the people support each other—with food, medicine, security. America has gotten so far away from that mode of being. For Americans, so much of life is about ideology, and with ideology comes the dehumanization of the other. The Egyptians, in this current time, seemingly exist without ideological difference and the resultant barriers it constructs.
Of course, given time and a new government, ideology will probably raise its ugly head. Unless it doesn’t. Perhaps, if the people can resist the temptation to misinterpret their belief system as a knowledge system, ideology can be resisted.