I
always thought I am apolitical, which is, anyway, said to be one way of being
political. But I think I have lost my political naivety, illusion, and
innocence. More and more people in my today’s world seem to suffer political ostracism.
They seem to have become politically homeless. They now seem to live in a political
orphanage, because they can neither feel at home (or identify themselves) with
the self-righteous, radical, militant, hypocritical, intolerant, and often
anti-Semitic, left ideologists, nor can they feel at home (or identify themselves) with extreme, nationalistic, chauvinistic, xenophobic, and
racist right ideologists. Politics and media seem to have been hijacked by
these two types of ideologists, who seem to be too radical and extreme to leave
room for reason, truth, justice, moderation, nuanced positions, wisdom, and
compassion. Politics and media tend to hide, twist, or deny truth and reality
when they do not fit their ideologies and agendas. Worst of all, such political
ideologies, particularly, the extreme leftist ideology seems to have infiltrated
the world of academics. Some academics seem to have somehow got the idea that
an academic is defined by the radicality of his or her radical
leftist political ideology. A tragic irony is that even a hint of reasoned
dissents would suffice to label a fellow academic as a Nazi, thereby seeking to
ostracize and delegitimize an
alternative viewpoint by throwing accusations
ad hominem.
