Asian Type of Jealousy
The Islamic World's intellectual reaction to its three centuries of underdevelopment consists of a reflection mechanism that we could call the "Asian type of jealousy". This intellectual reflection of a behavior mode has developed from the analysis of our being underdeveloped, as if the developed condition of the West is an accidental occurrence and that there is no necessity to conduct an academic study on it.
The analysis of destruction by means of its essence is an intellectual work that focuses on "destruction". Halil Inalcik's thesis, "The Ottoman has not stayed underdeveloped, Europe has developed. What needs to be worked on is not why the Ottoman has stayed underdeveloped but why Europe has developed," is a thesis on the treatment of an intellectual obsession aimed at this destruction; however, the thesis has remained as just that, only a thesis.
The Asian type of jealousy sees the development achieved by the other party incorrectly, with the Asian reaction emerging not with efforts to achieve more but with an attitude that perpetuates its own state of underdevelopment, while at the same time envying the other party's development. In the words of a common saying, this could be stated as, "While the others go to the Moon, we still walk." This type of envy causes our great thinkers to write questions like: "Space pilot [astronauts] of the twentieth century, have you found a cure for death on the face of the moon?" instead of praising the West's state of development in the name of all humanity. Anyone needing more examples should thoroughly study our Asian type of jealousy that causes our people to make statements like, "Oh, thank you," in reference to the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Anyone who judges our state of underdevelopment as being rightful versus the West's state of development should heed the lines written by Said Nursi: "Those who possess attributes of 'Muslim' in name only are actually anti-Muslim and we who are being referred to as 'non-Muslim', are in fact, Muslims who are experiencing punishment for our attributes."
The antithesis of the Asian type of jealousy can be seen in the Japanese and Jewish type of jealousy. This provocative and constructive type views the condition of underdevelopment as something that can be overcome by working harder and doing better than others. It is never intimidated by mistakes; on the contrary, mistakes stimulate greater development. For any bit of justification that this type of "jealousy" gives for its reasons for being underdeveloped, it makes tenfold effort towards the analysis of the reasons why others have succeeded in achieving greater development.
For instance, consider the comparison between the first Turkish automotive venture and the Japanese development of a quality truck. The Project of the Revolution's Automobile ended up being terminated for not completing the tenth year celebrations [of the Republic] because of having run out of gas. On the other hand, consider the reality of the Japanese automotive sector's rise to success on the shoulders of the "jealous" Japanese people who sang the song, "One day we will produce better trucks than Americans". Initially, before the American use of its military vehicles during the course of the Second World War, the Japanese automotive sector was obviously underdeveloped technically.
It is important to recall the historical reality of our country's inventors who once in a while emerged as an indicator of our public productivity, investors on whom we turned our backs with the built-in prejudice of "There's no way in the world that a Turk could achieve such a thing." This negative domestic bias forced those inventors to emigrate to the West. It's important to remember our collective suspiciousness that sought out American or Saudi capitalists to fund the schools established by the followers of Fethullah Gülen, initiator of the first and only educational advancement aimed at breaking the shell of the Asian type of jealousy.
The Asian jealousy perceives the economic and cultural race against "the other" to be in an atmosphere of war. Unfortunately, this mindset does not have the virtue possessed by the Tsar Petro the Great, who said, "I will learn to defeat by being defeated." The Asian-type jealousy internalizes the defeat and seeks the reasons for the defeat inside itself. It finds traitors, scape goats, bigots, masters in scholastic traps etc. [inside]. When it wins, it either falls into a state of drunkenness over the victory or it attributes the victory, for which it somehow never felt worthy, to external reasons. For example, think of Galatasaray and the Turkish A Football Team and think also of the song "Every Way That I Can" by Sertab Erener, who brought victory to our country in the Eurovision Song Contest
I know that soon many of our columnists experiencing the Asian type of jealousy will write criticisms saying things like, "We did not win the Eurovision, English did! Our harem clothing was being joked about." There have been times when I wrote about the intellectual dilemmas of Muslims and then, on the same day, noticed in my newspaper the work of a writer displaying the very same intellectual dilemma. If any writings appear in this newspaper criticizing Sertab, what I can do, I wrote it first [about her]. My suggestion to them: "Let Turkish people show their greatness in every way that they can "
ZAMAN
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