We need to grasp what is valuable and real and what is worthless and fake in order to save ourselves and our nation from the deluge. This is not an easy task, and it is complicated by the solipsistic intellectual life of Turkey.Long ago, Sextus Empiricus, a Roman philosopher and physician (c. 160-210) argued, “Nothing exists; even if something exists, nothing can be known about it; and even if something could be known about it, knowledge about it cannot be communicated to others.” This is pure solipsism -- the philosophical idea that one’s own mind is all that exists and that knowledge of anything outside one’s mind is unjustified. It says knowledge is the content of one’s own mind, thoughts and experiences. It is in itself the denial of the existence of other minds. It tries to know experiences only by analogy. It transfers information from a particular subject or source to another particular subject. It does not see any conceptual or logically necessary link between experiences or occurrences, and the experience of a given person is necessarily private to that person. It, therefore, denies the existence of a universe independent from the mind of the agent. There exists a variety of types of solipsism, but since Sextus Empiricus, nothing seems to have changed much.
This solipsistic thinking or understanding is typical of the mentality of the deep state and the protectionists in Turkey: In their minds, they are the sole possible or proper starting point for all social, political and cultural constructions. All truths must be founded on indisputable arguments and facts about their own consciousness. They lack the ability to accept the existence of other minds and rights. They are unaffected by the responses given. If only they matter, then other people and environments only matter insofar as they affect the protectionists. Regime, republic, the state and deciding on people’s lives and destinies are taken for granted as self-conceived and inherent. Maintenance of these social tools, the constitution and the system are not required. Others need not interact with the world.
However, less ego-bound members of society know that events occur or people exist independently of the protectionists’ view or experiences in Turkey. So they cannot continue to attach no meaning to thoughts, experiences and emotions other than their own. Reality is not merely what the protectionists aim to produce, and this can no longer be denied. Minds exist and events occur beyond the protectionists’ perceptions and intentions. People start seeing and observing “reality.” New evidence and proofs are pouring into people’s minds and senses. The latest coup attempts, plots, assassinations and Ergenekon have taught people about “new” parts of reality. What the protectionists have done undercuts morality and has unfortunate implications for Turkey, its friends and the region.
The protectionists must see that they have no control over the “universe” they aim to create for themselves. The current situation in Turkey, the intellectual and cultural level achieved, further consciousness about cultural, constitutional and human rights, and understanding of the interdependence of real world events show that the protectionist mind and its maintenance are an illusion and a bankrupt ideology. The real world is more complex and sophisticated than the protectionists assume. Their demise will not mean that the entire universe will cease to exist.
The protectionists and the deep-state bureaucracy can no longer pretend they are the only beings that exist in or at the center of the universe, that no one else really exists, that certain events in recent history never happened, that accusations against them are not real, that they need not discuss issues except with their own pet journalists and the media. The dawning reality of their own impotence is hurting them now.
We are reminded of the famous story about the jurist Hoca Nasreddin. After attending a case in the town hall, the hoca found that his splendid cloak, a sign of his authority, had disappeared from where he had hung it. Deciding that it had been stolen, he became irate and began accusing people and issuing threats. “If the person who has taken my cloak does not bring it back,” he shouted angrily, “I know what I will do next! Somebody will pay for this very dearly! It will cost him a lot!” Never having seen the hoca so furious and fierce before, the people around him really wondered and asked him what he would do. “Well,” he said, “I suppose I will have to go and buy a new one!”
