Egyptian Nationalism

A new kind of nationalism had risen a few years back, precisely during the 2006 ACN, and that is related to football.  The Egyptians suddenly found themselves united through the absurdity of this game and swept by the undeniable feeling of belonging to the country.  Many people have commented on the phenomena and dismissing it as showing how shallow have we become as decedents of the people who built the oldest and greatest civilization in human history.
Well I've always been inclined to say that at least there is one thing that is making the Egyptians happy, and make life bearable through the everyday struggle for living and driving through the busy and messy streets of Cairo!
Last weekend I have come to another analysis triggered by a couple of incidents:

1. An article in Al-Masry Al-Youm daily newspaper for Rula Kharsa, speaking about how did the love of our country had been reduced to a football match, and the flag being the symbol of this superficial love, would be rising high if, and only if, our national team wins! OUCH! She was comparing this love to the pride of the Americans of their great nation despite the fact that the majority of the Americans originally come from countries all over the world, and do not have historic attachment, unlike us, to their land.
   
2. A stupid rumor about shutting down the Cairo-Alex Desert Road, a vital route for my weekend commute, that led to a fight with the police call center 122, because the person on the phone was rude and condescending to me, being the inquiring citizen with supposed rights!
3. Yesterday I heard on "90 Minutes" the talk show, the governor of Kafr Sheikh trying to escape responsibility over the fatal accidents of a ferry boat and a speed boat in Rashid, saying that the authority is fed up of the people's negligence and there is really nothing to do anymore! My answer to that is RESIGN for God's sake and let someone who's more capable handle the negligent people!
   

Well that really made me go back in time and remember one stupid song "متقولش ايه ادتنا مصر، قول حندى ايه لمصر" with the word to word translation of "don't say what did Egypt give us, but rather say what will we give Egypt!"  This song is the actually the policy of the Egyptian government towards the people in a nutshell.  Even the Egyptian police's catch phrase that has always indicated that the police is in the people's service, it has changed suddenly to "the police and the people are in the service of the country."  Well what is that supposed to mean, I know the army services the country, but the police should be there to help people out, and that's indirectly helping the country!
The concept of unconditional love, I believe, only exists in the parents' love for their child, and specifically the mother's love.  The dad tends to want his kids to manifest some greatness giving him the satisfaction of knowing he had made a good investment decision.  While for a mother, no matter what her kids turn out to be, she still loves them like she had loved no one else.
Even in the relationship of God and humans, I believe in most religions at least, you can only commit to God, religion, and its teachings if the rewards are worth your while.  You'll be good because you're seeking heaven and a good afterlife; you won't be naughty so Santa will give you the Christmas present you wished for, etc.
Now tell me how can anyone expect Egyptians to love their country when they get nothing, absolutely NOTHING, out of this love! On the contrary they are expected to give in taxes, double taxes, and even more taxes without even seeing that reflected in public health care, proper roads or clean streets.  Clean streets leading to side topic of Ahmed Ezz a couple of weeks ago claiming that the presence of garbage in the capital's streets is a clear evidence that people are living a luxurious life because they are heavily consuming; with the same concept does that make Sweden a poor country because of its spotless streets?!
In reply to Rula Kharsa's article on why Americans seem to love their country more than Egyptians love theirs, below is quick comparison on what each country has to offer to its people:

 

Item	Egypt	US
Passport	Need a visa for almost every single country in the world	Use it like an ID pass anywhere worldwide (almost)
Citizen	No value whatsoever	Valued and appreciated
Presidential Election	Only whoever the incumbent has in mind can run (tailored conditions)	Anyone who's born in the US can run
Taxes	High and no return	High with evident return
Transparency	None	High
Government	Puppet	Effective

As a closing note, it really breaks my heart when I think about the goings on that way, but because at heart I am really Egyptian and proud, I hope that one day I can say it and mean it and everybody else can see it without asking themselves "why would she?"