TürkçeThe Heavy Bill Of Human Balance Loss The Caotic World
Adnan Bülent BALOĞLU*
Introduction
The dismal nature of the concepts and interpretations employed to depict the world is not lost on anyone. The cracked world, the foreboding world (Stephen D. King), the screwed-up world (Amin Maalouf), the out-of-the-way world (çığrından çıkmış dünya, Fikret Başkaya), and the derailed world (raydan çıkmış dünya, Cansen Erdoğan) are just a few examples. They indicate that disparities and injustices, various forms of poverty, wars, terrorism, mass migrations, surveillance techniques, moral decay, and diseases are all apparent and distinguishing characteristics of the contemporary world. The truth is that humanity is in peril due to a rabid global capitalism system that is assaulting the basis of states, social order, lives, cultures, economies, natural resources, values, and institutional faiths with the zeal of hungry wolves. This colonial system, which impoverishes the vast majority of the world's societies, generates grievances wherever it enters, incites racism, power and interest relations, and attempts to draw the young, educated, but unemployed population into the center of strife and chaos, particularly in Muslim geographies. Other chronic diseases are a result of this colonial system, either directly or indirectly. Among them are ecological pollution, resource depletion, nuclear weapons, globalization of terrorism, siege by consumerism and waste economy, racism, Islamophobia, and hate crimes, moral decay, and technology stretching human limitations. There is little doubt that humanity is paying a high price for these more chronic difficulties. These consequences include alienation, objectification, reification, family and social disintegration, commodity and consumption fetishism, moral corruption, society evaporation, individualism, selfishness, hedonism, truth monopoly, and radical siege, among others. To this depressing image, which is not encouraging for humanity's future, must be added the religion crises, identity crises, and contemporary slavery that have become increasingly prevalent under the siege of popular culture.
Reading the Landscape of the Current World
However, a comprehensive holistic analysis of the preceding table reveals that the social and economic life of the earth's societies is being rebuilt through a variety of Western-centered discourses and hegemonies, all of which are subject to global control mechanisms. In other words, the picture conveys a clear message: a new world is being formed under the monopoly, control, and disposal of the West. In this scenario, Western-centered ideological power and discourse are continually producing and renewing global information and reconstructing geopolitical meaning maps in order to establish and consolidate their own domination. Under the shadow of the myth of "progress," whose language is ubiquitous, the same dominant ideological power constantly produces proxy wars in geographies to which it attaches strategic importance in order to maximize its own areas of exploitation, and feeds, supports, and finances terrorism and violence. To put it another way, the Western white identity now aspires to actualize its vision of a white-dominated world through the support of terror groups, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. Essentially, this endeavour is aimed at idealizing a world in which the other does not exist, or does not interfere.
Additionally, the following table can be viewed as the traditional values of a lifestyle being exchanged for the values of modernity. These new values encompass a range of major issues, including rationality, progress, a free and wealthy society, equality and social justice, universalism, individualism/individualization, and materialism. Modernization's values are also the fundamental parameters of globalization's ideology. All of these parameters also encompass overarching concepts that a society must unquestionably embrace: There are various types of societies: market societies, welfare societies, multicultural societies, risk and security societies, and liberal societies. It would not be incorrect to assert that modernization's ideology is primarily concerned with uniting societies around these core concepts. This ideology envisions a complete exchange of the ingrained values that give old societies their color for a new/modern society. The concept "common values" under this system refers to the existence of a set of universally accepted values across all societies. The aforementioned values are also synonymous with the adjectives applied to the modern individual's world. All of the components of this shared set of values have been purposefully integrated with the West's own historical, cultural, and social experience. As a result, the path to ideal modernization requires complete acceptance of Western values, which are the result of a long and painful experience, regardless of their source or character. It should be emphasized that these values are part of a modern world in which indigenous social and historical identities and relationships are ingrained. After all, this world is compelled to succumb to capitalist liberalism's hegemonic objectives, which reduce everything, including human beings, to an ordinary and worthless commodity and fiercely consumes people, nature, time, and space.
The existing table's reading can be further varied. Capitalism, by economy of its ruthless and aggressive character, encourages and supports policies in politics, law, economics, and strategy that protect the interests of global power centers everywhere, regardless of location. These institutions, dubbed "Empire of Evil, Axis of Evil" by Egyptian economist Samir Amin, bend the backs of self-sufficient economies to protect their own interests, diminish social resistance, and make social inequities. This axis of evil imposes a set of "global" values in order to sustain the unilateral "safe world" policy it has developed in order to perpetuate its own exploitation. Through the addition of this package of values to the safe world strategy, the capitalist economy imposes its own logic on economic activities wherever it enters, via the "globalization" bubble, and therefore maintains continual expansion. Meanwhile, liberalism's task is to make minds that the capitalist capital system's goal is to promote humanist values such as peace, freedom, and equality throughout the earth's geography.
On the other hand, concepts such as progress, freedom, welfare society, globalization, equality, and justice serve as a convenient instrument for capitalist capitalists to grow their riches through liberal liberalism. Indeed, there is a stark contradiction between their dictionary and use definitions; they are really hollow phrases. For meaning, equality, in addition to its positive and beneficial connotations, also refers to the equal chance to outperform and exploit others in the market. For example, globalization includes the right of global capital to exert sovereign power wherever and on whoever it wishes, in addition to the meaning stated on paper. (Eagleton 2021: 58). For instance, progress is a term that refers to the concept that humanity and history will always strive for the greatest, the most ideal. According to the inventors of this concept, seeing a world in which no one appears to be hungry or poor, where they are not driven from their homelands by war and terror, where they are not enslaved, persecuted, or tortured, is not impossible. The reality is just the reverse; progress ideology displays itself by ruining the earth, executing the innocent, and generating unimaginable levels of human inequity in exchange for a set of "Western certainties." In a world on the verge of biological warfare and ecological calamity, progress appears to be a "wild myth" synonymous with eliminating oneself from the face of the earth (Eagleton 2021: 75-77). Whereas, when moral and scientific progress are pursued independently, violent conflicts and natural disasters are unavoidable. Terry Eagleton is correct in asserting that liberal capitalist civilizations inherently produce problems that undercut their own values. (Eagleton 2021: 69). For instance, terrorism is the aspect of the West that it denies, its illegitimate offspring that it continually rejects. Again, democracy is a necessary component of liberal capitalist culture. However, the same democracy poses a challenge to the free market order, which is essential to the economy of this culture. As a result, if required, steps should be made to curtail democracy's destructive capacity. (Slobodian 2020: 489).
Additionally, we observe efforts to monopolize politics, economy, culture, social life, and religion when we examine the world landscape today. All existing methods of influence, power, and dominance must be taken, all world peoples must be reorganized, and humanity must be standardized under this new world system. A "universal control" technique should be used to maintain constant control over one's self, natural resources, land, water, energy, and money. To accomplish this, the global battles in energy, water, agriculture, cyber, medical, chemistry, weaponry, food, oil, natural gas, precious metals, uranium, trade, and power wars have been fought. Commodification and commercialization without restraints exact a severe price on earth societies. Individualism, selfishness, materialism, competitiveness, violence, alienation, burnout, skepticism, denialism, and hopelessness are a few examples. When this hefty fee, which is nearly universal in all world societies, is applied to more private, Muslim societies, the expense becomes even greater. These consequences include a decline in self-esteem, a loss of private awareness, a waning of moral-spiritual values, a relaxation of national sentiments, an increase in consumerism and brand loyalty, and the eroding of halal and haram limits. The catastrophic breakdown of beliefs, values, and belongings experienced in Muslim societies means that strongholds of resistance crumble one by one in the face of insidious focuses that assault religion, morality, conscience, and values with reckless abandon.
On the other hand, it is not a prophecy to assert that humanity will face a future devoid of sentiments and values, consisting solely of daily routines, as it is on the verge of becoming the object of consumer technology in the triangle of technology-capital-media. This state, which envelops man, his personality, and values, is similar to being entirely imprisoned within a solid wall with no exit. It would be deceptive to assert that humanity's landscape, which is today mired in violence and terrorism, battling in the midst of exploitation, hunger, misery, and ecological disaster, and lost in moral corruption's corridors, offers hope for the future. The conclusion that comes from this landscape is that humanity is caught in the tide of a wasteful, self-centered life, caught between its own values and realities.
It will be required to state that neoliberalism, which is the system for ensuring the excessive profit flow of global capitalists, is responsible for erecting a political and economic structure that anchors the American system to the rest of the world. In this system, peripheral countries' role is to increase global corporations in increasing their unlimited profits. "Bitter prescriptions" are written to compensate peripheral countries for the costs incurred by global corporate imperialism. These global corporations, which terrify businesses in geographies with substantial subterranean and surface resources, are essentially floating geopolitical powers. (Lightning 2020:41–48). In this system, the global structure that controls power and capital first identifies and characterizes capital's adversaries politically, and then develops justifications for their eradication in the name of security. Whoever opposes capital, capitalism, and so-called security is deemed a menace to humanity and a "global opponent" who must be eliminated. (Neocleous 2016: 17). For a white elite organization intent on preserving universal peace by invading and occupying the European/non-Western world, the universal opponent is always a potential threat. In any case, this constant adversary must be kept from impeding the establishment of a new world order built on the parameters of liberalism, rationalism, secularism, progress, and humanism.
Additionally, it should be noted that neoliberal capitalism has no religious, theological, or moral concerns other than the values it believes in and supports. It invents religions and gods to hasten social decay and disintegration, to divide and polarize society, and to erode its values. On the one hand, it marginalizes institutional religions and relegates their values to the realm of conscience; on the other hand, it generates alternative religious institutions. These structures are characterized by their compatibility with capitalism's exploitative order. They facilitate spirituality through the devotion of consumerism, pleasure, and sensuality. They all subscribe to erroneous theologies and pseudo-metaphysical ideas. To this end, they deny institutional religions' fundamental characteristics such as revelation, prophet, miracle, Bible, and afterlife. (Baloğlu 2020: 45-47). In this sense, deism's vague, impotent god is well-suited to liberalism's political theology. The liberal's desired god is not an active god in the world. This god does not interfere reason or law, does not perform miracles, and is uninvolved in the world and human affairs. (Critchley 2013: 117). This god does not interfere with the liberal world order; the god of deism conforms to this ideal concept of god. Deism's rationalism is liberalism's rationalism.
Another circumstance that must be mentioned here is that humanity enters a cyber-technologization process through the triangle of technology-industry-technology, only to find itself in the midst of artificial intelligence research and facing a transhumanist face. It is a tragic development in the first quarter of the twenty-first century that humanism, which seeks to alter man's relationship with nature and God, came face to face with transhumanism, which is based on Darwinian evolutionism, evolutionary biology, and psychology and seeks to alter man's nature and isolate him from God. According to transhumanism, which is an atheist structure, it is not God but man who controls life, and religion has no place in his world. Religion is a relic of the past; it stands in the future of progress and evolution. Man is now a contender to eventually assume the position and role of God as he approaches the power of eternal and immortality. Transhumanism, as a secular and atheist endeavor, seeks to fundamentally reshape people, their environment, and the world of religion and meaning. As so, it has been dubbed the world's most perilous humanity. (The Mountain 2020: 17-20). Transhumanism, which views the body as a replaceable prosthesis and is consumed by a desire for immortality and unlimited power, is one of the most serious dangers posed by positivist, secularist, materialist capitalism, which serves the purpose of purifying man from metaphysics, his belongings, and roots, within the confines of a specific strategy and plan.
After all, the world image, which we have been able to reflect only a portion of in the first quarter of the twenty-first century, surely holds some rather significant difficulties for humanity as a whole. The harmful impacts of capitalism, which go hand in hand with neoliberalism's ideology, do not appear to fit inside these borders. While art historian Jonathan Creary speaks these words, he illustrates the extent to which capitalism has been a calamity for humanity. "The fantasy of a community world without mortality, a world devoid of billionaires, a future different than barbarism or post-humanism, in which history emerges from reified catastrophic dreams. It is feasible for thoughts of a future free of capitalism to begin in the same way that sleep dreams do..."
After illustrating a few of the solution proposals generated in response to the current world view that we have attempted to present thus far, let us end our essay by adding our own perspectives.
Various Solution Suggestions
The chronic problems that characterize the contemporary world landscape, which we have attempted to outline thus far, are universal problems shared by all humanity, including Muslims. Although it appears conceivable to solve these problems with the help of a well-intentioned global mind and will, it must be acknowledged that this will not be easy due to the residue of millennia. At this point, it should be highlighted first and foremost that the picture built by the negative impacts of globalization's ideology, which is fundamentally based on economic interest, gain, and exploitation, on the earth's societies is one of a very contaminated world landscape. This pollution, which is the result of the inhuman and immoral logic of global actors and capitalist capitalists, who have been engaged in a ruthless and ruthless struggle for control of existing resources for an extended period of time, is a sign that, in the end, there is not much distance remaining between the ideal of a capitalist society devoid of all sensitivities and values. While enormous technological advancements and scientific discoveries are presented as beneficial to humanity, in reality, they result in significant losses for humanity. Alain Touraine, a renowned French sociologist, explains this condition as follows: "This society, which is active, creative, and experiencing many tensions and conflicts, has become virtually surreal." The veil of lies and secrets is so dense that it quickly shuts us out of the world we anticipate. Being a human being in this world entails being unable to obtain what one desires and to protect one's fundamental rights." Touraine (2016), p. 35.
Richard Falk, an international law expert and author of the book Globalization and Religion, believes that the "human reconstruction" model can be used to address a number of long-standing problems such as slavery, colonialism, and racial discrimination, which have fueled the world's complexity and instability for a long period of time. According to him, the possibility of a "religious-based international movement" is the only thing that will allow humanity to hope for an alternate future at the dawn of the twenty-first century. This possibility is humanity's only hope as a source of power and resources capable of reestablishing human existence and meaning in life. Religion is the only force capable of restraining a globalization ideology that ignores human sorrow, erodes human rights and solidarity, develops polarization and prejudice, and promotes an immoral, unscrupulous, and brutal technical advancement. It is critical to establish the theological underpinnings of compassionate global governance. Because only religion possesses the power to oppose the forces of politics and economics that muddle and destabilize the world. Falk believes that overcoming this theological obstacle requires "mixing the efforts of the world's peoples for democracy, equity, and survival with a human-centered vision of a human being mindful of the sacred and mysteries beyond the comprehension of reason and machines." As a result, religion, according to Falk, is capable of reawakening and re-establishing the human spirit of solidarity, which is on the edge of extinction, the dwindling consciousness of identity and civilization, and the long-forgotten science-mind and spirit-based reconciling ability. Additionally, it is the sole candidate to represent oppressed peoples whose lands, rights, and liberties have been taken. Falk 2003, pp. 37–41.
According to Taha Abdurrahman, a Moroccan who seeks solutions to specific issues plaguing the Islamic world, the Islamic world and the West must first resolve a moral issue. It is a moral collapse on a global scale. While the Islamic world slavishly mimicked Western modernity, it wreaked havoc within its own body. Abdurrahman believes that shallow morality will not function in a Western modernity that is ethically too unstable. Indeed, morality is far more powerful than modernity and is capable of resolving its problems. This is achievable only if morality is an in-depth study of life and human beings. (2021: 39; Abdurrahman). Abdurrahman highlights the importance of moral reinforcement of the techno-scientific world order. Otherwise, this order will be brimming with opportunities and possibilities for the oppressive, suppressive, and hegemonic power. This power will act in the first instance to seize theoretical potential and operational capabilities. When this occurs, he will acclaim himself as master. As a result, humanity's condition will deteriorate and it will drift toward annihilation. It is critical to instill in the immoral techno-scientific order a science and technology etiquette that will guide it away from a masterful mentality toward one that acknowledges the universe's master. The path to resolving humanity's chronic problems comes through here. 168–76 (Abdurrahman 2021). This morality, infused with human-conscientious wisdom, is absolutely necessary for the establishment of a techno-scientific order that values human life, upholds the caliphate's title, acknowledges the Supreme Creator, and produces theory and acts in an order that respects the diverse customs and cultures of the earth's nations (Abdurrahman 2021: 177-80). On the other hand, Abdurrahman asserts that Arab imitators regard modernity as illusive and sacred, and hence attempt to replicate Western modernization in its entirety. Mukallit, i.e. imitative modernity, has not solved the problems; what needs to be done is to overcome the narrowness of temporal modernity and progress to the breadth of "values modernity." Islamic modernity, he believes, should be built on three pillars: ruthd, critique, and sophistication. This genuine modernity will derive from within, not from beyond, and will invariably oppose Western acceptances. This modernity, on the other hand, will be one that reconciles reason and religion, religion and politics. This is a creative modernity in which the Muslim creates and utilizes the novel. This modernity should be one that values people, pushes the boundaries of reason, and upholds a fundamental morality. As a result, Abdurrahman underlines that mimicking Western modernity, which is determined by its historical circumstances, the demands of its own society, its changes/transformations, and internal dynamics, will not result in the Islamic world's modernization or resolution of its problems. (Abdurrahman 2020, pp. 75–85.) Abdurrahman reintroduces the Muslim consciousness to its pure, true, and humane foundations, having been dragged far from its original culture and identity by merciless capitalism's modernization processes amid the harsh and swift currents of history. According to him, a Muslim has an obligation to reconcile morality and knowledge, practice and faith, and politics, otherwise he will be unable to propose solutions to his or the world's chronic problems.
Conclusion
Samir Amin appeals to all nations whose dignity has been eroded by the phony Westernization symbolized by the "Coca Cola" bottle to rediscover their inherent dynamics. Amin argues that these nations, entrapped in capitalist globalization, will be unable of creating their own futures through artificial and superficial adaptations. (Dembélé 2019: 103). This is what Abdurrahman refers to as abandoning mimicry. In our age, when the machine is advancing and the human being is receding, it appears possible to oppress the human being's personality, to exploit his labor, and to halt the destruction of human processes of daily life in order to perfect automatism, but only with the help of a local and global awareness. Capitalist civilisation, which advances impeccably in its endeavor to purify man and his environment of all forms of goodness, is accelerating the planet's demise by destroying the human and conscientious aspects that stand in its way. The exploitation system, which it refers to as the new world order, continues to accumulate the instruments necessary to bring about global devastation, which would imply the end of human existence on the earth, while destroying man's natural fabric. Today, the view that progress is an illusion aimed at capitalist development, and that in order to fulfill it, social and economic systems are collapsed, cultures are dissolved, and values are evaporated, is gaining increasing popularity. For the vast majority of earthly societies, the illusion of progress constitutes a destructive project. It is a sad sorrow for humanity that incredible advancements in science, technology, and technology have devolved into a nightmare that daily erodes human and conscientious values. It is critical that this misfortune does not become a source of evil. With the restoration of human balance, it appears conceivable for the planet to reestablish stability and balance, and for the earth's humanity to achieve peace, tranquility, and tranquility. To do this, it is critical to act urgently on humanity's common sense and conscience. If this balance cannot be restored, the world's roaring capitalist capital will continue to plunder and corrupt. As of now, Muslims' state of impotence and defeat in a world rich with immorality, captivity, exploitation, and oppression, as well as false idols, pharaohs, and gods, leaves sufficient room and possibilities for exploitation, plunder, and exploitation. Thus, in order to counteract the chaotic world view that we can only mirror a portion of, it is required to first establish a human balance. When asked where to begin, my response is unequivocal: to awaken the Muslim's common sense and conscience and to establish his human balance. Naturally, to have the power to dominate knowledge, technique, technology, and capital with a Muslim conscience and morality. Otherwise, the affairs of humanity remain stagnant in the hands of the materialist Western worldview.
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* Professor, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University