I AM AGAINST FANATISM. I FEEL SUFFERED!!!

I AM AGAINST FANATISM. I FEEL SUFFERED!!! In these times we live in a world of definitions, which tries to direct our way of thinking and where to belong, but the more we define ourselves and the environment, the more we create limits to our own way of living. As Friedrich Nietzsche said: “Fanaticism is the only form of will that can be instilled in the weak and timid.” The reality is that the war is there. Fierce. Wild. With echoes of violence that have disappeared (or almost…) from Europe for many decades. We must all be fully aware that whoever controls social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) and the press (newspapers and television) also controls us..(or intends to control). This is not a conspiracy theory, these are facts that we should be aware of. And here, reality trumps imagination. Our activities, and our lack of activity, are recorded, studied and the conclusions are used. We are transparent as we navigate, and interact, in the digital world, and we leave more information about ourselves than what we can think of, certainly more than we would like to leave, all this and from the start, because we feel free. The reality is that the freer we feel, without “being”, a curious irony, in the “pretense” management of the choices we make when we are online, the more information we leave about ourselves.“We can never be sure that the opinion we try suffocating is false; and if we had, smothering it would still be an evil.” (John Stuart Mill). The awareness, or illusion, that there we are entirely free in what we do or say is the reason for this prison of ours in which we are “limited” at this time. When we act like we are not being watched, but we are, we reveal who we are and our own intimacy, in our tastes and thoughts. “For this is where we have arrived, this is where we are, regarding the war in Ukraine, we are living: in a climate of concerted intimidation of thought that we have never seen or felt before. Anyone who does not think exactly according to the ready-to-think booklet provided by NATO and by the leading countries of the Western world is immediately cataloged as a friend of Putin and a moral accomplice of Russian atrocities in Ukraine.” (Miguel Sousa Tavares, in Expresso, 04/14/19 2022) Thinking is therefore difficult as long as it is not a question of repeating what others think or what has already been thought. There are times in society when thinking becomes particularly difficult. To think about the current context is to submit this narrative point by point to the scrutiny of reason and reflection. It implies many risks, namely that of being considered a traitor, perhaps in the service of the enemy. Certain of these risks (in fact, already realized), I dare to think. As Buddha said: “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world." We can conclude that after all we have learned very little. We continue to superimpose emotions over reason, and to see the world in black and white. Our minds continue to be shaped to accept simplistic views of complex realities. Manichean perceptions give us more comfort by confirming our prejudices and our “certainties”. Good and immaculate on the one hand, bad and unpalatable on the other. The good would never commit war crimes or crimes against humanity, just because they are good. Fact checking is missing in action….. “A lie can go around the world, while the truth is still in its shoes.” (Mark Twain