Towards a better Attitude: No to Condescension

Condescension, despise and total lack of respect are those things that characterize the way Moroccans treat each other. I have been pondering the reasons for such hate, that animosity amongst them. I wonder if this has just taken place in the twenty first century or it has been inherited from our ancestors, the question remains unanswered, and I would like to find an answer to it some time.

Certain individuals display a heavy dose of narcissism conceit, a polemic attitude, too cool to care. I have seen cases where the only obsession of an individual is to find a loophole to criticize another, to make fun of him and burst into laughter as a “victorious” person. I keep wondering what on God’s green earth makes them believe they are way too cool than others. Is it that ornamental “French”, the legacy of a colonizer that penetrated their inner self and poisoned their ego even after he left? I wonder if being up to date with everything that happens in the world of sports and fashion and what not would make one ‘cool’ in their terms. Some seem to forget that no matter how perfect they see themselves, they will someday fall in the same trap, and they will feel outraged and again try to vent that very awkward situation of their lives on another. I wonder if it is a necessity in order to regain an inner balance; I guess they validate themselves on the detriment of another’s misfortune.

Quite apart, I’d like now to analyze the situation from another perspective. Those who are being condescended and looked down at may be the product of a number of reasons, amongst them the low dilapidated education system, the trends of fashion. Most of the cases I witnessed proved me that the pitiable French used by the condescended is a major reason; French is a widespread problem in all over Morocco. Given that it’s French the yardstick nowadays by which some tend to judge, most of individuals try to follow up this very requirement, which turns them into a laughing stock. They are required to speak the colonizer’s language, and then they are punished for doing it wrongly, just for the sake of avoiding being looked at as an ‘alien’. Furthermore, it is also the very lack of cultural background, but this very lack of cultural background is endorsed by ‘people’ who want this and upcoming generations to remain in the bottom, the abyss of ignorance and backwardness. Most are unaware of it; the result is disastrous just as worse as a tumor at its very advanced stages. I must also add that this demeaning view held about the Moroccan dialect is a key reason for their inclination towards French or brush their dialect with French.

The problem is more complex to put this simply. Here I sketch another side of the problem: nobody likes to be outdated nowadays; they are required to know things they don’t really need to know, like the name of celebrities, players and actors, you name it! That’s the other yardstick by which others judge the other. This is what is noticed among youngsters. They are developing a new sense of racism against each other. It’s the funniest thing ever: they condemn the West’s racism but allow it amongst them. Some, little of knowledge they have, when the other have no idea about it, it’s a calamity. Of course, the other is not likely to admit he or she doesn’t know. It’s here the issue, the lack of validation from within self. Unfortunately, our cultural tendencies smashed a number of virtues, one of which admitting they are wrong or don’t know the answer; they have been injected with this attitude since their childhood; they have been taught to have the ‘effrontery’ to say ‘yes, I know it and better than you’ even he or she has no idea about it at all. Education again, culture again!

From another angle, talking about those who condescend to others, they are, in fact, nothing much of different than the others. Is it their up-to-date knowledge and French that give them the right to judge people as “Bouzebal” and as retarded people? Well, this is what I see every day in Moroccan pages on Facebook namely Moroccan Trolls.

They must have forgotten that of the knowledge they have, they have but a little. I once witnessed someone commenting on someone else who made a spelling mistake, his comment was full of mistakes; I could have done him the same, but I remember that little of knowledge I have despite my, with humility, acceptable level of English. I have witnessed people talking about topics of which I’m a connoisseur but I did not want to make them look like idiots. If I adopt such view, then intellectuals have the very right to condescend to them- but that cannot happen, because an intellectual knows exactly the truth of the matter, so he or she turns a blind eye.

I keep wondering again and again, do they really need to make someone’s life miserable and satisfy themselves? I have never seen such low-standards as I have in this century. Always this hierarchy takes place, tearing all possible links of respect. This ‘respect’ is likely very inexistent in people’s dictionary. Every bit of good virtues is being lost day after the other. The only thing I have seen so far is criticism for the sake of criticism. Then what? We forget serious things about life and we focus on the trivialities. I would call the clarion call and remind everyone “Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things and small people talk about other people”.

The sum up, condescending to another as an attempt to look smarter is but a lame way to vent the frustrations of an inferiority complex, a troubled self; indeed, it's the very proof of narcissism. Instead of condescension we should learn how to tolerate, make people aware of the virtue of saying ‘I don’t know, simply’, showing more modesty - because being part of a comparison puts into equation the likelihood of classifying that condescending person in the same category as the condescended, as the saying goes “What comes goes around comes around”. Self-respect is a first step towards respecting others, regardless whether they deserve it or not. It's a matter of principles and of how one sees himself, which reveals the real value of an individual, which, in turn earns him a great deal of respect among his friends and acquaintances. One should opt for an ounce for modesty, reminding himself or herself of the abundance of defects, of which he or she might be aware or unaware, that lay within him or her.