3. Journalists and news presenters – the bane of our lives – why? Because they are mostly self-opinionated pontificators (a bit like myself) and apparently, they have the magical ability to read other people’s minds. Instead of reporting plain, basic facts – they insist on giving us their interpretation of the facts. Obviously they are unaware that they see life and events through the lens of their own personal backgrounds, beliefs and experiences. Therefore they give us inaccurate information. They presume to tell us what is in the minds of the SCAF, the MB. the protestors, the Egyptian population which is largely silent at the moment. Apart from all that, for the most part, they are reading the entire situation incorrectly, especially those reporters from outside of Egypt, who have little or no real knowledge of the culture of government here, the history behind the history, or the mentality of the population. They judge, criticise and offer their opinion – and …….. have any of you seen how some of them deliver the most upsetting news of death and destruction with a smile in their eyes? What is going on with these people? Oh, lets not forget the showing of old film shots – leading TV viewers to thing that old violence is happening live before their eyes – putting it bluntly – this is LYING.
4. My favourite – the hurlers on the ditch. The foreigners tweeting their two cents worth and retweeting the horrifying tweets, the sad tweets, the emotional tweets like any of it affects them. They are enjoying the emotional rollercoaster of virtual reality. It has NOTHING to do with them, safe in their own countries. The expressions of solidarity, the encitement to violence offered with little real understanding of the situation, the country or the people – like the reporters they are judging Egypt and events here by their own limited standards and limiting beliefs. Of course in their eyes all other countries should be like them….but their countries are not doing so well, are they? Why would they want Egypt to follow them over the cliff? It is so easy to be drawn into the emotionally charged online community. It is so easy to incite and offer advice from the sidelines. It is so easy when there is no fall-out for them. And, let’s not forget the sense of belonging and the little charge of adrenaline which is the pay-off. Is Twitter a community of people who live lives of virtual reality? Get a life!
5. The dead and injured. One could be forgiven for not realising on the first day or in the first few hours of violence, that death and/or injury was a possibility. However, after the initial surprise – one would have to be stupid not to realise that if you stand in front of a gun…..YOU MAY GET SHOT! WAKE UP! If you break up the pavement and throw it at someone who is holding a stick or a gun – you are most likely going to get it back in your face! Don’t you think? Oh, hang on a minute – I forgot about the ones who have declared themselves willing to die in this “battle” – ok if they are seeking to be martyrs (let’s not forget there is money in Egypt for martys’ families), then why are you crying when they attain their dreams of martydom? This issue has me confused all the time.
6. It is not the end of the world. These events and events like these have been happening all over the world since time began – why are we surprised by them? “This Too Shall Pass” We all just have to decide how involved we want to be in the meantime. Personally, I don’t want to be involved at all, just writing this so I will stop talking to myself 🙂 Oddly enough I don’t see these disruptions affecting Egypt anymore than it is already affected. I have got more enquiries over the last 3 days for Mara House than usual and the other thing I have noticed is that 98% of my enquiries convert into bookings. Egypt, like every other country with hot flashes, is recovering it’s tourist industry and I guess those who recover first will be those with the best to offer those searching. Egypt used to be the safest place on Earth. Ok, so it’s not anymore – but it’s still a hell of a lot safer than most other countries to visit! Someone tweeted yesterday “It’s amazing how just a few blocks away from Tahrir life is going on as if nothing is happening” EXACTLY!
7. The people who are criticising and condemning others for not going to Tahrir – THIS, I have a problem with. These are the people shouting for democracy – but they don’t REALLY mean they want democracy. No, they want everyone else to be in their “gang” and if you are not in their gang – you don’t deserve to exist – AND you definitely should not express a conflicting opinion. Some education on freedom of speech, freedom of action needed here. On the freedom of action bit – since when does vandalism and provocation fall into the freedom of speech/expression category? Don’t these people realise they are on TV?
8. Muslim Brotherhood Paranoia – Look, if the majority in Egypt elect the Muslim Brotherhood to power then DEAL WITH IT!.. That is democracy. Maybe they are monsters…..but then again maybe the monsters are only in our own fearful little minds. I don’t know. If they are monsters and they come to power…if they throw out the foreigners, if they take Egypt back to the dark ages – if that’s the will of the majority then I guess everyone else better get out. But today, if you are afraid of this – go work with an opposing political party and DO SOMETHING POSITIVE. Don’t let the paranoia take you to breaking up the pavement in Tahrir!
Now, I gotta go. Writing this has given me a BIG headache! You see – I am endeavouring here to stay detached… 🙂 Endeavouring to be unemotional 🙂 Endeavouring to be the Enlightened One 🙂 Endeavouring to be the Non-judgemental One 🙂 Failing .. but not failing miserably…..hope my little rant gives someone food for thought and new avenues in which to mentally exercise. BYE!
I love your blog! Keep writing. I have even used google translate to share your blog in Arabic with my non-English speaking neighbors.
Marie you used the expression “hurlers on the ditch” which is very Irish. In America they use the expression “Monday morning quarter-backs” to get the same idea across.
I have no idea what you mean when you talk about “democracy”. I live in a supposedly democratic country – Ireland. Apart from the ability to vote for the puppets every few years I have no real ability to change anything in this state. Wait! I know I have the ability to change my state of mind, and am doing so.
Politicians are a crowd of thieves who sit around all day thinking up ways to steal more money from us. I have never given the state permission to steal my money in the form of taxes and vat, etc.
A country that calls itself a state has little or nothing to do with the people living in it. It’s a system for keeping people in slavery. The slavery of jobs, of material addictions, of more and more. A state is never about improving my or your conditions. It’s about staying in power and exploiting people .
When we all realise that we are all one, all powerful and don’t need any corrupt system, whether democratic or otherwise, to control us then we will also realise we are free, safe and loved.
Keep the peace! Love, Brian.
Hi Raph,
That is everyone’s problem – people have to realise that democracy takes time and is a learned process also – learning from mistakes, learning from making both good and bad decisions, electing good and bad leaders and representatives. You must start somewhere – the elections are the only place to start. People calling for elections to be postponed because everything is not perfect are delusional – nothing is ever perfect and if Egypt is to move forward it must start with elections – just seen on Twitter that the interim government has resigned – not sure if it is true or not. I think it is sad that everytime Tahrir erupts the people with responsibility for moving the country forward just jump ship. Maybe Mubarak stayed because nobody else had the guts!
On my side, the problem is that democracy is more than simply people casting votes. If you have “Supra-constitutional principles”, a parliament that doesn’t have the power to do anything that SCAF doesn’t like, and wide spread press “censorship” (or lies as you might want to call it), any elected parliament still does not reflect the views of the people.
Raph
Hi Anonymous – anonymous is so anonymous isn’t it?! Easy to throw stones anonymously – would you like to expand a little bit on your comment? Perhaps if I can get a grasp on what you want to say I might have a comment myself – you are obviously one of those who don’t believe in freedom of speech of those who disagree with you?
You are ignorant and classist, and certainly have no understanding of what civil rights are or what a democratic system entail. Clearly, you’ve internalized the Mubarak era repression and have lost all dignity and self respect. You feel others lives are worthless because you feel worthless.