It is highly likely that the concept of self-flagellation is extremely confused for many Middle Easterners, This is in addition to confusion regarding conspiracy, Arabism, religion, respect for religions, and other related matters, which allows us to say that much of what goes on in the minds of some is one of the main reasons for the decline of the region’s peoples.
Understanding the fundamental differences between self-criticism and self-flagellation is essential for comprehending shortcomings and how to address them, Self-flagellation, in its essence, is not “flagellation,” but rather an expression of failure and its prevailing circumstances, and of a negative approach to dealing with failure—an escape rather than a confrontation, a flight from objectivity into personalization, It is an exaggeration of self-deprecation and an inflation of perceived overwhelming factors affecting the self.
The conspiracy and its concepts are based on promoting surrender and acknowledging one’s own weakness in contrast to believing in the strength of the conspiracy, Then comes the admission that there is no way to confront strength with weakness, Then comes the assumption or discovery of a hidden, diabolical conspiracy that gives some people a feeling that they are of “special and extraordinary intelligence,” The victory here is not over the challenge or the problem, but only over the ambiguity surrounding the problem, They think that realizing the existence of the conspiracy is in itself a victory, but it is an illusory victory over ambiguity, not over challenges,It is merely adding a new ambiguity to existing ambiguity, i.e., an accumulation and multiplication of illusions, The illusion of discovering the conspiracy does not represent a victory over defeat, but rather resignation and surrender to the objective challenge,After discovering the illusion of the conspiracy, the defeated person rests in the shadow of his defeat, convinced of the validity and inevitability of that defeat, which he cannot confront, because the challenge is gigantic and exceeds his ability to confront it, Thus, discovering the conspiracy does not mean confronting it, but rather resting and taking shelter in its shadow, Conspiracy theories are comforting and absolve them of responsibility for failure; what happened was the fault of some powerful, conspiring outsider, For these people, the matter is clear enough to allow them a degree of balance, inner stability, and relaxation.
Self-flagellation is a negative feeling that usually intensifies during times of crisis, while self-criticism is a positive feeling that seeks to objectively assess the overall situation, its strengths and weaknesses, without exaggerated pessimism or optimism, Self-criticism is not an escape, but rather a preparation for confrontation, Its purpose is to find a way out of the predicament, not to succumb to it. In contrast, self-flagellation provides the psychological backdrop for succumbing to the predicament, It is an attempt to overcome failure by running away from it instead of confronting it, because one is incapable of confrontation due to a lack of awareness of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, and a lack of awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the challenges one faces. Exaggerating the magnitude of challenges is an attempt to justify running away from confronting them.
Self-criticism is often confused with self-flagellation, Pointing out weaknesses, describing them, and analyzing them is not self-flagellation but criticism,Someone who points to the defeat of Arab heritage at the hands of Western civilization and then advises assimilation into Western civilization is not a flagrant critic but a criterion, The term “assimilation” is not inherently ugly, unconscious, or self-deprecating; rather, it is a call for realism, It is impossible to create a civilization unique to the Arabs and then nurture and develop it rapidly enough to compete with Western civilization, There is no longer any possibility of rising up and competing with the West, It is the end of history, as Fukuyama wrote, Therefore, in this situation, we must rely on the intellectual achievements of the West, which are not the exclusive property of the West but belong to all of humanity, The shame lies in remaining in a state of backwardness, and the shame lies in relying on the West for consumption while rejecting it intellectually. Without intellectual development, there would be no Western civilization, no Western industries, no scientific progress, and without intellectual development in general, the West would not have surpassed the Arabs.
There are two forms of self-flagellation: a physical form and a psychological form, The psychological form is characterized by despair, hopelessness, and a feeling that life is pointless, followed by a host of negative anxieties and nihilistic behaviors, This is pathological, and it has less insidious manifestations, The physical form, however, is characterized by the deliberate infliction of harm upon oneself as a means of punishment, thereby contributing to the creation of a new psychological balance and stability based on nihilism.
Distinguishing between criticism and harsh criticism is sometimes difficult, because the boundaries between the two are not always clear, In practice, the benefits of criticism outweigh those of harsh criticism, even if it is partially confused with harsh criticism. Harsh criticism represents pathological conditions that must be treated, unlike criticism, which represents a healthy condition that must be maintained and even nurtured.
