Knowledge & Power


Peace,

Earlier today, I was lookng for something to watch at the rest. As I scanned through the seemingly endless collection of "street" dvd's that I've picked up over the past few years (I must say that they can be a great teaching tool for the youth, as far as what's going on in other parts of the country), I decided that I wanted to watch something with substance that could be used for analysis & observation. I chose 'Syriana', a movie starring George Clooney & Matt Damon that caused a fair amount of controversy last year around the "fictional" country that the movie was set in & how closely it bared resemblance to present-day middle eastern politics. To say that it sparked thought & analysis would be a understatement. Please find some of my thoughts below:

- What the hell is the Middle East? Names are a large part of identification, and that particular phrase tells you nothing. To be sure, at one time, comparing middle east vs. far east (China, Japan,etc..) was relevant, b.u.t. in this day & time, it does nothing by confuse joe public as to what continents these countries are really on. Egypt is considered as such to seperate it from Africa; Tunisia is right next to it, and everybody calls that Africa, so why not Egypt. If those countries really attached themselves to a continental or pan-continental bloc (See the big homie Hugo for reference), they could be much more powerful than they are now.

From a historical angle, The middle east is/was a area that was destined to fail. It's been the bastard child of European/Western countries since WWI, when it was recognized as a strategic area by european countries who were uncomfortable with the Ottoman Empire. For all those in the NGE, please see the Knowledge degree in the 1-14 for reference and analysis.

- Things are often much more complex than they seem. In the movie, you couldn't judge a book by it's cover as far as who thought what solely based on ethnicity, position, etc.. Similarily, today there are a myriad of issues that are often painted as one dimensional (ex. Young Black men sell drugs because they're lazy and irresponsible). The more nuanced the anaylsis, the more comprehensive the solution can be. Think about where America would be re: the Iraq fiasco if GWB and his neo-con cronies were a bit more "nuanced".

- Knowledge & Power born Equality; simply put, your idea & your ability to affect your environment create your overall impact. Low expectations create low realities. This is no disrespect to my more "enlightened" or "deep" brothers, b.u.t. if your life goal is to "master" yourself (control breathing, high science diet, etc..), while letting idiots run with the globe, you're doing yourself & your children a disservice. Those of us who know better have to take our ideas to scale, and not be satisfied with the crumbs off of the table. There is no reason to be satisfied with having no or little impact on the world around us (& I don't mean your woman or family; that should be implicit). Allah the Father advocated for those of us in the NGE to be pacesetters for our people; none of us can do that by playing the back when it comes to the future of the planet. Let's build, grow, multiply & expand for the good of the entire planet.