Politics and Prose: Ece Temelkuran- 'How to Lose a Country'

Source:Politics and Prose- Turkish author Ecel Temelkuran: at Politics and Prose in Washington

"Twice rated one of the ten most influential people in social media, Temelkuran is both an award-winning novelist and Turkey’s most-read political columnist. In her new book she looks at recent political events from around the world— Britain’s Brexit movement, the election of Trump, Erdoğan’s rigged elections in Turkey—identifying the pattern of an insidious wave of populism. Arguing that people need to stop saying “it can’t happen here” and face the reality that it is happening everywhere, Temelkuran points out the warning signs we can’t afford to ignore and proposes global answers to what has become a global problem.

Ece Temelkuran is an award-winning Turkish novelist and political commentator, whose journalism has appeared in the Guardian, New York Times, New Statesman, Frankfurter Allgemeine and Der Spiegel. She won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book award for her novel Women Who Blow on Knots, and the Ambassador of New Europe Award. She has been twice recognised as Turkey's most-read political columnist, and twice rated as one of the ten most influential people in social media (with three million twitter followers).

Twice rated one of the ten most influential people in social media, Temelkuran is both an award-winning novelist and Turkey’s most-read political columnist. In her new book she looks at recent political events from around the world— Britain’s Brexit movement, the election of Trump, Erdoğan’s rigged elections in Turkey—identifying the pattern of an insidious wave of populism. Arguing that people need to stop saying “it can’t happen here” and face the reality that it is happening everywhere, Temelkuran points out the warning signs we can’t afford to ignore and proposes global answers to what has become a global problem."

Source:Near St- From Ecel Temelkuran 

Watch the video here Politics and Prose

I think I agree with Ecel Temelkuran on right-wing authoritarianism, what she calls right-wing populism, what I call authoritarian nationalism where a right-wing Nationalist like President Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes to power in Turkey and suddenly decides that he's God and therefor infallible and shouldn't have anything that looks like checks and balances and opposition. And that anyone who even tries to question him and hold him accountable, is unpatriotic and a traitor and no longer even deserves to live, let alone deserving of basic human rights like civil liberties. This happens a lot to politicians from opposition parties in Russia, as well as Russian journalists in Russia who have the gaul to question the Putin Administration and President Vladimir Putin.

But I guess I'm more in line with Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef who takes a comedic approach to how he handles authoritarians and just makes fun of them and attacks their narcissism. Authoritarianism whether it's right-wing like in Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, or left-wing authoritarianism like in Venezuela, Cuba, China, North Korea, is a serious problem that comes with horrible consequences for the people who have to live under these authoritarian regimes.

But authoritarianism like with life in general if you can't make fun of it and just relax for a moment about it, this will drive you crazy or at least send you into a depression. If you can't make fun of people who are so narcissistic and paranoid that they literally see themselves as a God that everyone that they come across must bow down to them or face death or at least horrible torture if they don't bow down to them, then who the hell can you make fun of? If comedians and other people can't make fun of authoritarians, then they might as well got out of business. And next we wouldn't be allowed to make fun of fat people or stupid people.

Authoritarians are generally if not always bad people who are the most corrupt and even evil criminals that you'll ever come across. From evil dictators to Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and 40s, as well as Joe Stalin, to Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin today. These men are all responsible for countless murders and acts of torture against innocent people. And certainly deserve to not just be taken seriously, but to be held accountable. But if you can't make fun of of someone with that type of narcissistic, paranoid, evil personality, men who literally see themselves as God's, ( which is how far out of space their brains operate in ) you might as well start taking UFO and Elvis sightings seriously, because you can't see the humor in anything.