Moral marginals
It is improper that a 1 percent minority attempts to ensure that the other 99 percent of people adopt their lifestyle; however, it is equally improper if the majority imposes its terms upon the minority. In this case, as Fethullah Gülen has emphasized, everybody should be able to remain who they are without being forced to adopt the lifestyles of others; a fair pluralism is maintained when different groups are allowed to survive by benefiting from public resources (bureaucratic, political and economic) to the extent they contribute to these resources.
So, do the liberal democracies care about it? No.
1) The liberal philosophy assumes monopolistic power to regulate politics by purging religions and ideologies. However, liberalism has become the political and philosophical religion of our age and an ideology that has waged a war against all other ideologies; and it has further dogmatized the remaining thoughts and ideologies through accusations suggesting that they are the enemy to freedom, inclined to socialism and open to totalitarianism. Liberalism has been transformed into a hegemonic arrogance and absolutism.
2) Liberalism's reference to minorities is not limited to religious, sectarian or ethnic communities. It transforms the members of different religions and sects into amorphous persons by making them "equal citizens" and creates a homogenous society by putting all people in the same melting pot. What is relevant to liberalism is the economy, ideology of growth and the sociocultural policies being shaped by it. Not even diversity, let alone plurality is preserved in the world of liberalism. The concrete indicators of this include the imposition of the same clothing, sharing the same sort of living space, city, the same culture of entertainment and market.
3) In essence, liberalism promotes the freedom of material pleasures including lust and gluttony whose control, when left to the self, drives a person to evil. For this reason, the sort of freedom it defines is the removal of barriers before material pleasures and desires through legal and political measures and the promotion of capital and power accumulation in a so-called environment of competition. By definition, capitalism is a regime of limitless capital accumulation; the Koran defines this type of hoarding as "kenz," which means devouring in Arabic (9/Tawba, 34).
From this perspective, neither majority nor minority matters for liberalism. What really matters for the liberal ideology is the detachment of all original and natural identities of a person so that he or she would become eligible for the market jungle and exploitation. A system that turned into a monster cannot protect the fundamental rights and legitimate freedoms of others. The only thing that it protects is the passions and desires of the self, lust, power, capital and unlimited growth desire. Inevitably, this system protects the moral marginal and promotes what has been prohibited by religions and ancient traditions. It also recognizes rights and freedoms to those who subscribe to these sinful acts; not only does it equalize them with the mainstream society but also makes them privileged vis-à-vis the regular people; this takes place so pervasively that the general public tolerates and then adopts the prohibited lifestyle and immorality of the marginal groups.
We should know that this is something new in history, and put simply, it has a meaning that goes beyond political philosophy. Evil acts have been committed since ancient times. However, they were not committed publicly; they were not promoted; the perpetrators were punished or at least condemned. Now they are protected by laws; in addition, their lifestyle is imposed on the general public because this appears to be the only way to secure greater growth and more consumption at the same time.
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