Naeem's Blog

Sheeple: People unable to think for themselves. Followers. Lemmings. Those with no cognitive abilities of their own.

I have always wondered how masses of people could rally in support of their dictators and political overlords. Whether is was Saddam or Arafat or Qaddafi or whoever, I have never been able to wrap my mind around thousands of their supporters chanting their name, carrying their blown-up portraits, and proclaiming allegiance to these most wicked of humans.

I always figured they were simply deluded by the hope of some measly crumbs falling from the presidential coffers onto their plates. Or they genuinely felt that their leader would one day lead them to victory, however they chose to define it.

In the end, I gave these masses the benefit of the doubt that due to the repressive nature of the government in conjunction with the constant stream of lies by the government-controlled media combined with their difficult,impoverished lives, they just didn't know any better.

But what can you say of a people who have had the fog of lies lifted before their very eyes and the curtain has been flung aside to reveal the true nature of the wizard, yet they persist in their loyalty to their crooked leaders?

Sheeple.

That's what I find myself thinking of these Palestinians who rallied yesterday to show solidarity for their beloved Abbas.

I fully expected Tunisia/Egypt-style rioting and protests in the West Bank, but instead we have Palestinians rallying IN SUPPORT of the Palestinian Authority (!!).

Verily, people get the leaders they deserve.

I have long questioned the role of major pharmaceutical companies in misdirecting and corrupting healthcare. They carry too much power in influencing the type of care many doctors give to their patients.

For example, here in Riyadh, it's all too common for a doctor to prescribe a litany of drugs for any and all ailments. I can't even begin to count the number of times that we took Humza to his pediatrician with allergy-like symptoms and returned with 6 to 7 different medicines.

There is big money to be made in this business of selling drugs.

This documentary from Al-Jazeera sheds some light on the "pervasive fraud, fatal side effects, and huge kick-backs paid to doctors" that plagues Big Pharma.

Also, these articles (here, here, and here) will provide some background on how the unimaginable greed displayed by these multi-billion dollar corporations is placing our lives at risk.

The latest finding is this Newsweek article that questions the foundation of many medical studies, which center around drugs and their supposed benefits.

"A study might ask whether coffee raises the risk of joint pain, or headaches, or gallbladder disease, or hundreds of other ills. “When you do thousands of tests, statistics says you’ll have some false winners,” says Ioannidis. Drug companies make a mint on such dicey statistics. By testing an approved drug for other uses, they get hits by chance, “and doctors use that as the basis to prescribe the drug for this new use. I think that’s wrong.” Even when a claim is disproved, it hangs around like a deadbeat renter you can’t evict. Years after the claim that vitamin E prevents heart disease had been overturned, half the scientific papers mentioning it cast it as true, Ioannidis found in 2007...

Of course, not all conventional health wisdom is wrong. Smoking kills, being morbidly obese or severely underweight makes you more likely to die before your time, processed meat raises the risk of some cancers, and controlling blood pressure reduces the risk of stroke. The upshot for consumers: medical wisdom that has stood the test of time—and large, randomized, controlled trials—is more likely to be right than the latest news flash about a single food or drug."

And finally, here is a nice article on the corporate dollar corrupting medical research.

Yes, let us keep believing that capitalism is but a minor inconvenience in these troubling times. While so many Muslims have convinced themselves that theological teachings, political participation, or spiritual purification are the various roads to true reform, this economic juggernaut of free-market capitalism is getting a free-pass while wreaking unbelievable havoc throughout the world.

I highly recommend this article titled, 'How Eating at Home Can Save Your Life'. The writer doesn't just rail against fast-food restaurants, but stresses the importance of 'the ecology of eating', which includes knowing what foods you eat, preparing the various dishes, and enjoying it together as a family.

I particularly found the Family Dinner suggestion to be on-point, especially since we practice all the suggested guidelines in our own home:

"Reinstate the Family Dinner

Read Laurie David's "The Family Dinner". She suggests the following guidelines: Make a set dinnertime, no phones or texting during dinner, everyone eats the same meal, no television, only filtered or tap water, invite friends and family, everyone clean up together."

The institution of the family dinner that we saw as recent as a generation ago, is slowly withering away. Eating a meal is now seen as a biological function that is more efficiently carried out with a 'quick bite', as opposed to the more time-consuming family dinner that places everyone's life on a collective 'pause' and presents us with an amazing social opportunity and family-bonding experience.

Savoring the company of one's family over a meal is infinitely more valuable than savoring the meal itself. Unfortunately, the utilitarian mindset that is overtaking the world prevents us from appreciating this fact.

A while back I posted on the Joy of Boredom and how it's actually very productive to experience extended moments of 'nothing'.

That's why I found myself so enthralled by this speech given to the incoming class at historic West Point Military Academy. William Deresiewicz speaks about moments of solitude being critical in developing an individual's own thoughts and ideas.

I would only add that in addition to everything the speaker said, imagine the power of solitude when combined with the 'company' of Allah (swt). After all, the concepts of khalwa (solitude) and muraqabah (isolated introspection) resonate throughout the spiritual teachings of our deen.

Indeed it is a sad reflection of our times (and of ourselves, moreso) that so many of us are simply incapable of sitting alone with just our thoughts and Allah (swt). We are constantly in need of external sources of stimulation. We are constantly in search of ways to avoid being alone with ourselves. Solitude is seen as a waste of valuable time. It has been deemed 'inefficient' by the calculus of modern society. But how else can we ever travel down the path of deep reflection and introspection?

And seeing that many of us are parents, the essence of this lecture ought to be passed along to our next generation.

Here's the link:

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/

And here's a taste of what he says:

"You can just as easily consider this lecture to be about concentration as about solitude. Think about what the word means. It means gathering yourself together into a single point rather than letting yourself be dispersed everywhere into a cloud of electronic and social input. It seems to me that Facebook and Twitter and YouTube—and just so you don’t think this is a generational thing, TV and radio and magazines and even newspapers, too—are all ultimately just an elaborate excuse to run away from yourself. To avoid the difficult and troubling questions that being human throws in your way. Am I doing the right thing with my life? Do I believe the things I was taught as a child? What do the words I live by—words like duty, honor, and country—really mean? Am I happy?"

"Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think. Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people's ideas, or memorizing a body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. In short, thinking for yourself. You simply cannot do that in bursts of 20 seconds at a time, constantly interrupted by Facebook messages or Twitter tweets, or fiddling with your iPod, or watching something on YouTube."

So I’m reading this must-read article in the Wall Street Journal, ‘Chinese Mothers are Superior’, about the way Chinese mothers raise their children in a strict, disciplinarian manner with high standards - in stark contrast to the Western method of coddling and appeasing the child’s self-esteem. I must admit that eventhough I’m convinced of the benefits found in the former approach, I’m guilty of practicing the latter. Not sure if my American sensibilities get in the way or if it's my wife’s guilt trips, but for the most part I find myself regularly letting my kids off the hook. I seriously need to commit myself to the more effective Chinese approach but with the most critical element of Islam and spirituality injected into the mix.

Anyways, I somehow end up reading this other WSJ article discussing a parenting revolution taking place in China where the current generation of parents are leaning towards a more liberal approach to raising children. As cited in the article, one of the top-selling books in China, titled ‘A Good Mom Is Better Than a Good Teacher’, “encourages independence and freedom while cautioning parents against overprotecting their children.” This revolutionary parenting advice of nurturing independent thought and questioning authority are cornerstones of Western thought and fly directly in the face of traditional Chinese parenting techniques.

And then I recall seeing a recent news report about countless elderly Chinese parents living a life of isolation and seclusion. And so to curb this negative trend, the Chinese courts have allowed these parents to sue their children for neglect and disregard.

The first thing that springs to my mind, admittedly as an outsider, is the seeming disintegration of basic Chinese values that I have long admired. The Far East was a land where elders were respected and children knew their place. Granted, these values defining the child-parent relationship are essentially ‘Eastern’, found throughout the Muslim world and Africa as well, but China has always been the embodiment of all things East.

Sadly, it is truly indicative of the times we live in, where the tentacles of the Western lifestyle are not sparing any nation or land. China is just the latest in the list of casualties.