🇲🇦 72-year-old Mohamed Aziz is the most photographed bookseller in the world, living in Rabat, Morocco.
Aziz, who became an orphan at the age of six, had a difficult life; he could not even finish high school because textbooks were too expensive. In 1963, at the age of 15, he started his career as a bookseller with a pile of 9 books under a tree.
Now, his bookstore sells thousands of books, and he spends his days surrounded by books, devouring the stories that emerge from them. He spends 6 to 8 hours a day reading, stopping only to eat, pray, smoke, and help his customers. All his remaining time is spent walking around neighborhoods in search of books to later display and sell in his shop.
He says this is his revenge on childhood and poverty:
“I have read more than 4,000 books in Arabic, French, English, or Spanish, which means I have lived more than 4,000 lives. Everyone should have such a chance! All I need to enjoy my day are two pillows and a book.”
You think Hamas killed Israelis because they're a bunch of monsters who hate Jews? Of course you do, you're twelve.
You think Trump is trying to get rid of Maduro because Maduro is an evil dictator who wants to poison Americans with fentanyl? Hell yeah homie, you're twelve.
You think Putin invaded Ukraine because he hates freedom and democracy and wants to conquer the world? Bless your heart my twelve year-old buddy.
You think the US and Israel have been attacking and eliminating rivals in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Palestine in order to fight terrorism, stop tyranny, and protect the world from nuclear weapons? Yeah, that checks out, you're twelve.
The ultimate example of "everyone is twelve now" thinking is in the mainstream worldview promoted by western pundits and politicians which holds that the world is full of evil monsters doing evil things simply because they are evil, while being opposed by the virtuous Good Guys of the US-led world order.
It's like a children's cartoon, with the Bad Guys doing Bad Things simply because they are Bad, and the Good Guys striving heroically to stop them. It sounds like a shitty PG-13 summer blockbuster starring The Rock, but it's the consensus worldview of serious professional pundits and analysts who share this view on mainstream platforms with serious expressions on their faces, and anyone who calls any part of it into question is dismissed as an extremist or a deranged crackpot. Because everyone is twelve now.