مرحبا يا جماعة

حصلت لي فترة صعبة هنا في امريكا. بفكر بدراسة مجستير في الجامعة الأمريكية بقاهرة عنشان أستريح من الحياة هنا و بنفس الوقت أزيد مؤهلاتي وكمان أتكلم العربية زي مصري خلاص.

بس عايز عارف إذا بعد التخرج هناك فرص جيدة برا مصر؟ خاصة لطلاب الاقتصاد ولا التمويل؟

صح الدراسة هناك سعرها رخيصة اوي اوي. بس إذا ما في فرص جيدة بعدين فده على فاضي.

خلوني عارف يا غاليين

شكرا!

Progressivism as Hegemony

Often times, what Westerners consider to be progressive causes - feminism, LGBTQ, etc. - are actually veiled tools of hegemonic control. These causes are used to highlight the Muslim World's permanent backwardness. Permanent is an important word here, because no matter what Muslims do, they will always be backward for one reason or another.

This is because Westerners are devoted less to these causes and more so to bashing the other. Subconsciously, they are looking for any excuse to find fault in or attack different cultural groups. Feminism/LGBT is the perfect tool with which to bash Muslims, because Muslims will always be considered deficient in these areas.

Moreover, feminism and LGBT are not universal ideas. It's only in highly-developed urban centers in the US and Europe that these ideas are very trendy. When the people of these areas talk about feminism and LGBT to the rest world, it is them asserting their cultural hegemony over different cultural spheres.

The Pride Match

This explains yesterday's Pride Match in Seattle. True, Seattle is already a pride-friendly city. And this match was already chosen to be the Pride Match long before Egypt and Iran were slotted by chance to play that day. But once Westerners realized Egypt and Iran would be playing, this quickly became an exercise in hegemonic control.

Had the Pride Match been between France and the UK, it wouldn't have been newsworthy. However, because it was two Muslim countries, Western society mobilized to make sure gayness was pushed in the faces of all the players and their fans. While news and social media encouraged attendees to bring rainbow flags to send a message to the Iranian and Egyptian governments, it was only the players and their fans who were subjected to this message.

After the match, Westerners patted themselves on the back. News articles are coming out (no pun intended) saying that 'Pride Wins', 'Pride Match was Necessary', etc. Meanwhile, the Egyptian team's victory and the Iranian loss are largely ignored. The Iranian team's story is particularly tragic, given that they said they regret not being able to give their people a win to be happy for after months of war. All of this is drowned out by Westerners celebrating their success in forcing their cultural views onto others.

I've been living outside of Texas for a few years now, mainly on the East Coast. Many people here say bad things about Texas and even about Texans. People assume we are all die hard MAGA types; they let politics warp their perception of an entire state.

I can't help but think that in Texas I was raised in and around Mexican culture. Texas used to be Mexico for God's sake! From the food, to the language, to the place names, to the architecture and people themselves, Mexican culture is inherent to Texas. I've tried explaining this to the ignorants here, but they can't even begin to comprehend.

Has anyone else encountered this attitude outside of Texas? How have you dealt with it? It's so exhausting, I'm for real debating returning to Texas.