Supporting Triviality: A Lifeline for Regimes, or the Stone That Will Hurl Them to the Bottom?
It is no longer a secret to anyone that this accelerating triviality that we are noticing everywhere (glorifying football players, singers, dancers, the trivial, the immoral, ... lavishing huge amounts of money on them, and making them stars, role models, and ideals) is not a coincidence, nor is it a predetermined fate, nor a natural result in the world of the electronic communication giant, but rather it is the result of planning and scheming by human devils day and night. Many writings have appeared in this field confirming this, theorizing it, and laying the foundations and mechanisms for controlling, seducing, and preoccupying people, and...
This matter (spreading and manufacturing triviality) is not limited to the Third World, but it is a global phenomenon that no country is free from, which clearly indicates that the plan is not local but global, and that one hand is managing the matter and the rest are following it, whether out of conviction or coercion.
There is also no dispute that the purpose of this seduction is two basic things:
1. To distance people from politics, criticizing rulers and regimes, and all serious matters, or all matters that would bring about real change, and thus preserve the stability of regimes, the stability of rulers and deep states on their thrones.
2. To push people towards more reckless, unquantified and unjustified consumption, to further enrich the major companies that control the gears of the global economy.
The question is, does spreading triviality in this way achieve the desired purpose?
As for the second point, the answer is most likely yes. It is enough for an influencer to place an advertisement for a specific product until requests flock towards it, whether the product is actually useful or not, and whether what the influencer said about it is true or not. It is clear that there is a feverish race among people towards formalities and appearing in a certain way that agrees with what is "trending" or what the "elite" are doing! From this point of view, triviality has paralyzed people's ability to think and distinguish, and paralyzed their ability to make decisions, and replaced it with what is called herd mentality. I buy what people buy, not because I need it, but because people do it, or because the influencer I admire did it, or because owning this thing makes me belong to a certain social class. The same applies to clothes, shoes, bags, restaurants, travel, and brands. The practical need is not what drives the purchasing or spending decision, but even if it has an impact, it is a small impact, but what makes the person make the decision is basically the pressure of "triviality".
What about the first point?
It is certain that "trivialization" creates in people an aversion to politics and matters of governance. Engaging in these matters undoubtedly requires a great deal of seriousness, thinking, and struggle, in addition to the fact that it has costs, as it may lead to a restriction in livelihood or arrest, or... These are matters that cannot be engaged in by those whose primary and only concern is instincts, laughter, and amusement. However, the problem is that producing these "trivial" specimens of people intensively deprives society of the energies it needs to continue, let alone advance and expand. In order to advance, societies need scientists, thinkers, doctors, engineers, researchers, and strong men in the armies to fight enemies, draw up plans, and confront conspiracies, men who are willing to sacrifice everything precious to protect their homelands and families. If people are trivialized, who will perform these tasks?
In addition to that, trivialization, as it creates submissive people who are neither here nor there, it also creates people with high aggression, and this is a noticeable and witnessed phenomenon. Societies where triviality spreads see crime and societal ferocity spread side by side. The trivial person is ready to fight fiercely for the most trivial reasons, and is ready to be drawn into a bloody conflict, destruction, and sabotage under any banner, for the sake of money, or simply to support his team in football, or in support of his neighborhood, or because someone did not speak to him as befits his noble status, and this adds an additional burden to societies, in terms of the need to increase the number and capabilities of the security services, the losses and damages that result from riots, and the expenses of building prisons and spending on prisoners.
It may be said that the establishment and advancement of societies does not necessarily require that all of its members be conscious, educated, and serious. It is enough that there be an elite among them that meets those descriptions and that this elite is the one that takes over governance in order for things to go right. However, what should be paid attention to is that triviality is tempting and contagious. There is no guarantee that this triviality and indulgence will not seep into the various classes of society, including the elite on whom society's advancement depends, so the stock of good and reformers will be depleted over time, and this is also a noticeable and witnessed phenomenon. The original state of countries that suffer from problems is that people's involvement in political action is high because all people are concerned with change, but the reality shows the opposite, as those involved in parties, unions, and political action bodies are in constant decline.
Someone may say that the matter is not black and white, as not everyone who is afflicted with triviality is necessarily completely hopeless. A person may be trivial and playful at night, in their personal time, and serious and diligent during the day at work, and this is also noticeable, especially in the West, where people spend the night in their amusements and debauchery, and when morning comes or their vacations end, you find them at their work with all seriousness. This is a harmless triviality.
And I say, yes, it may seem true, but those who are familiar with the conditions in the West know that the oil slick of triviality is expanding, and that large sectors of young people in the West who have been swept away by the tide of triviality have become a burden on their societies, averse to higher education, but rather averse to simply working, preoccupied with consuming drugs, especially with the widespread legalization of drug consumption, including those with strong effects, or spending long hours in electronic games or what is called art, and large numbers of them have joined neighborhood gangs that engage in organized crime and drug trafficking. The informed person also knows that a large percentage of those who hold higher degrees in the West and on whom the edifice of scientific advancement stands today are coming from Third World countries, and that the West is attracting them to cover up the deficit it suffers from, and that without this attraction, Western countries would have regressed in the scientific aspect in favor of the emerging countries.
Someone may say that what is called triviality is in essence a personal freedom, and no one has the right to prevent people from doing what they want with their money or free time, and that denouncing triviality is the specialty of those with an Islamic reference who want to restrict people and mold society according to their vision.
The answer is: As we mentioned, the spread of triviality is not only a matter of people exercising their personal freedoms, but, as we said, it is a deliberate, planned act to preoccupy and distract people, and rational thinkers, even non-Muslims, denounce it and warn of its dangers. Among the thinkers who denounced the promotion of triviality and criticized its spread in modern societies, we find a number of prominent names who addressed this topic from philosophical, social, media, or educational angles. We mention among them:
1. Theodor Adorno (1903-1969), who, with Max Horkheimer (1895-1973), authored the book "Dialectic of Enlightenment," in which they warned that mass culture is not neutral but "programmed" and serves the interests of capital and political control and that it has become a tool of hegemony, as it entertains people and numbs their consciousness, and turns them into passive consumers. They criticized the "cultural industry" that produces trivial content that numbs the masses and prevents them from critical thinking. "It makes people accept reality as it is, without a desire to change it."
2. Neil Postman (1931-2003) in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death," criticized how the media has turned into tools of superficial entertainment at the expense of serious knowledge. Politics, education, religion, and culture are no longer the subject of serious discussion, but are presented as entertaining "theatrical performances." He says: "We will not die from oppression, but from laughter," "The greatest danger is not in those who prevent us from reading, but in those who make us not want to read."
3. Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002): In his book "Television and the Mechanisms of Manipulation of Minds," he considered that television perpetuates "symbolic triviality" and excludes serious intellectual elites in favor of superficial and popular faces. He says: "Television does not say what cannot be said, but prevents saying what should be said."
4. Alain Deneault (1970), author of the book "The Mediocracy," in which he spoke about the rise of (mediocrity/triviality) as a criterion for success in the fields of politics, economics, media, and education, instead of competence or ethics. He says in his book: We live in an era in which mediocrity (triviality) has become an integrated system, not just a marginal phenomenon, and that competence is no longer the measure of success, but rather the criterion is the ability to obey, not to think critically, and to integrate into the "game," and that the society is now dominated by trivial people, who rise because they do not threaten the system, but rather perpetuate it, and that triviality has become a "condition for success," in politics, economics, media, and even in education and scientific research.
5. George Orwell (1903-1950) in the novel "1984" where he condemned soft tyranny and said: There is no need for physical brutality when you can reshape people's consciousness linguistically and culturally.
6. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) in the novel "Brave New World" published in 1932, and its modified version in 1958, where he sees that the greatest danger is no longer from "hard dictatorship," but from soft dictatorship based on the power of consumption, the media, and addiction to pleasure and organized triviality. He says in it: "Tyrants will control not by violence, but by distracting us until we laugh as we are led to chains."
Therefore, denouncing this feverish call to triviality is not the specialty of Islamists, but everyone with reason and zeal cannot but denounce this and sound the alarm to warn against it. If these Westerners denounce this even though their countries are advanced, and even though they believe in the idea of personal freedoms, and that most of these practices do not contradict their beliefs, what about us?
For our Islamic countries, the misfortune is doubled, for several reasons:
1. Our countries are scientifically and industrially backward and at the bottom of the ranking, and those who are in this situation should roll up their sleeves to work hard, not be preoccupied with trivialities.
2. Our countries are vulnerable and permissible. The enemy attacks them and barely finds anyone to repel them as a result of the huge difference in technical progress in the war industry. Those who are in this situation should also roll up their sleeves and work hard, not be preoccupied with trivial matters and leave the matter to the West to do to us what it wants.
3. Most of these trivialities that people are preoccupied with are forbidden and not permissible amusements. Preoccupation with them is forbidden and exposes its owner to punishment on the Day of Judgment, so its owner has combined the humiliation and insignificance of this world with disgrace in the Hereafter.
Spreading triviality to consolidate the pillars of the rule of these regimes is a crime, and what a crime! These oppressors are not satisfied with oppressing people and plundering their resources, but are working to corrupt societies as a whole, seduce them, and distract them, and they lavish the same money on that, which people need most in light of the poverty and need they suffer from, all so that their rule can be established and sustained, and no one disturbs the peace of their rule, and if they were to reason, they would know that if they took good care of the people, the people would protect them with their chests, and establish them on their chairs, and goodness would spread to them and their subjects, and they would get from it enough to meet their needs and more, even more than enough, and they would not need to oppress, corrupt, and seduce God's creation.
When injustice befalls an individual, it can be remedied by repentance and apologizing to the victim, but when it befalls large groups, and even successive generations, its impact is devastating. If this trivial person marries a trivial woman like him, both of them have not received enough education and both of them spend the bulk of their day on what is useless, what is expected of their offspring? What values will they instill in them? And what will society benefit from them? And what cost will society bear to reform their offspring?
Allah Almighty said: ﴿Indeed, those who love to see immorality spread among the believers - for them is a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah knows and you do not know.﴾ [An-Nur: 19], and the Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah loves noble morals and hates the trivial." Narrated by Al-Hakim in Al-Mustadrak through Sahl bin Saad Al-Saadi, and Al-Albani authenticated it in Sahih Al-Jami, and it was narrated from Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: "I hate to see any of you idle, neither in worldly work nor in the work of the Hereafter."
Triviality is not a lifeline for rulers, even if it seems so to them, and looking at it as a savior is evidence of a terrible lack of vision. Triviality may actually distract people's attention from them for a moment, but at the same time it gnaws at the pillars of their rule and strikes their strengths point by point, until it collapses on their heads, or until there is no immunity in it if a raider attacks it, so it surrenders to its enemy without resistance, and then it is too late.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Muhammad Abdullah
