"Click-and-paste intellectuals": When culture is reduced to copy and paste

In a world where speed has overtaken contemplation, and quantity has overtaken quality, it has become easy for someone to claim culture with a click, or to be presented as a thinker simply by a passing quotation. Today, I address two phenomena prevalent in the contemporary Arab intellectual landscape: the intellectual who simply repeats the ideas of others without examination or taking a stand, and the click-bait intellectual who transforms superficial interaction into a claim to awareness.

This article is an invitation to pause, reflect, and pose a simple yet profound question:

At a time when the intellectual was considered the nation's conscience, its critical awareness, and its intellectual supporter, another distorted and hybrid model emerged, similar in appearance but different in essence: the transmission intellectual, followed by the click-bait intellectual with the advent of technology and digital media.

The transmission intellectual is the person who memorizes texts, recites sayings, and boasts about the sayings and ideas of others he has collected without making the effort to understand or critique them. He reads to quote, not to analyze, and transmits to impress, not to deconstruct. It presents texts as they are, which can mislead the listener or reader, convincing them that they have become part of the "elite" simply because they read, listened to, or participated in a cultural gathering.

Then came the age of clicks, where the click of a button, copying a link, or posting a decorated quote on social media were enough to give some people a false sense of knowledge. What once required time for contemplation and analysis was now condensed into a click, without context, depth, or intellectual responsibility.

The problem lies not in the transmission itself, for knowledge and the accumulation of knowledge were built on transmission and understanding, but rather in the mentality that does not differentiate between transmission and imitation, between clicks and thought. An intellectual reproduces the ideas of others, not to build on them or disagree with them, but rather to confirm what was said, as it was said, without diligence, accountability, or a position.

Today we live in an age where voices have become intertwined with noise, and where the abundance of publications has outweighed the depth of thought, to the point that the cultural arena has become crowded with people who "pretend to have knowledge without actually possessing it." Not everyone who transmits a text becomes aware of its content, nor does everyone who clicks on a link become part of its meaning.

Culture is not a luxury; it is a form of resistance. It is resistance to superficiality, pretense, and blind imitation. This resistance begins with a moment of courage when one stops repeating and asks: Do I believe in what I am transmitting? Does what I am sharing truly express me?

In conclusion, a true intellectual is one who sheds light on the dark corners, even with a single word, not one who fills in the blanks.

Avoid being merely a transmitter... or a clicker.

Be a voice, not an echo.