Gamal Abdel Nasser took over Egypt in 1952 and deposed King Farouk. Nasser launched initiatives to nationalize politics, the economy and society. My husband had completed his Phd and had a great job teaching at the University of Cairo. But, he knew he had no future in Egypt in a country with this type of new mentality. He immigrated to the US in 1970. Fast forward to today and Egypt is suffering from severe economic difficulties yet, they have this strong, many times, misguided nationalism. It's a fascinating subject to study.
The original post on Instagram that I commented on, was in regard to the rude comments the people were posting about the person's skin color in the post. I just shared that should it even matter what color the person is. When I mentioned MENA it was in regard to the last US Census were Egyptians would be considered "white" when filling out the form. I was only stating a fact; nothing more. But you can see some of the nasty comments that I received.
I could care less about the comments as I feel for these young people and their ignorance of the West. And, I'm not talking politics. I'm talking about freedom to do as you wish. Egypt is a very collective society and you have to fit in that little box. I would do very poorly in this type of society and although you can say I'm conservative (I hate that word by the way), I am a non conformist and I like to be different and creative. And, so does my husband. He considers himself 110% American. As do our children. We do not hold the onto the idea that "we are Egyptian". My husband left his country over 50 years ago. We are Americans and proud of it.
You know I spend each summer in Turkey where I can go and explore and no one pays any attention to me. It's been over 10 years since my last trip to Egypt and I have no desire to visit but I may in order that the grandchildren can see their grandfather's homeland. I've never stayed in a hotel in Egypt, or gone sightseeing in a fancy air conditioned coach. I've been in taxis, trams, Metro, buses and trains to Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.
There are so many Egyptians who hate the West and yet they readily use our technology every day, and drive Western cars for example and yet since 1978 the United States has provided Egypt with over $50 billion in military and $30 billion in economic assistance. Does that make any sense?
I could write so much more but there is no need. I cannot change the minds of 100 million people.
Wishing you a great summer!
Pat
