The strongest glue that holds societies together are shared common values, historical heroes and belief systems. However, while these values serve as a compass for the sincere masses, they are unfortunately a profitable tool for opportunists, political merchants and economic extras. “marketing instrument” can be transformed.
Today, the love of Atatürk, religious beliefs and the revolutionary spirit have been stripped of their essence and turned into empty window dressing.
1-Ataturk Abuse Hidden Behind Formalism:
Kemalism is a modernization project and a rational construction of the future. Today, however, some people reduce Atatürk to a visual image and sell his image rather than his ideas. The marketing of books at exorbitant prices under the name of “special editions”, and the attempt to cover up all kinds of lack of merit by hiding behind badges and symbols are in fact another manifestation of “dogmatism”, which is the greatest enemy of Atatürk. To freeze Atatürk instead of understanding him and to gain material or political rent from this frozen image is the greatest betrayal of the revolution itself.
2-Making Faith a Commercial and Political Capital:
Faith is the purest bond between an individual's conscience and the Creator. The manipulation of this purity through sectarian structures, commercial conglomerates or political fortunes leads to the decay of social morality. “Marketers of religion”, They build their own worldliness in the climate of fear and hope they create by scratching the most sensitive points of the masses. Turning faith into a tool of oppression or a model of enrichment weakens the spiritual resistance of society.
3-The Use of the Revolutionary Spirit as “Career” and “Image”:
The legacy of revolutionaries who put their lives on the line for equality, justice and freedom is also affected by this wave of abuse. Those who use revolutionism only as a discourse, a fashion icon or a social media aesthetic ignore the suffering, labor and sacrifice within these values. This “comfortable revolutionism”, which gains status by using revolutionary terminology but in practice is part of the system of exploitation, is one of the biggest obstacles to real transformation.
The Necessity of a Return to the Self
The antidote to abuse is knowledge and critical reason. The difference between what a defender of a value sacrifices for that value and what they gain from it is the clearest litmus paper for identifying the abuser.
Rescuing Atatürk's rationalism, the morality of faith and the revolutionary quest for justice from the hands of these mongers is not just a choice, but an intellectual and conscientious obligation. True values are treasures to be cherished, not appetizers on tables, lies on pulpits or merchandise on counters.